New Storytelling Initiative to Educate Others on Life in the Border Regions during ‘The Troubles’ Launched
Border Lives, a new storytelling project, capturing local people's life and experiences through six short films along the border region between 1969 and 1998, was recently launched at Stormont, Belfast.
To complement and enhance the Border Lives project, online learning specialists, Aurion Learning developed a number of multimedia rich E-Learning modules and storytelling resources, available through Border Lives Rethink to help educate others on life in rural post-conflict communities in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The E-Learning modules and storytelling resources, along with the six short film are are available on the Border Lives website www.borderlives.eu and will be used as an education tool and historical documentation.
Speaking at the launch at Stormont, Project Manager at Border Lives Conor McGale said:
“The more we delved into this project, the more fascinating it became, and we have been encouraged by the numbers of politicians who have made the effort to come to local screenings over the last few months.
We’re delighted now to have taken our Border Lives roadshow to Stormont. The Stormont event also saw the official launch of the new project website www.borderlives.eu that will host all 6 films along with other footage, a new Border Lives app for Smartphones and iPad and an online learning course on reconciliation based on the footage captured by the project.”
The E-Learning modules will contain three, one-hour online learning modules based around storytelling, reconciliation, renewal, reconstruction and restart, are available to all users and are free to use.
The online modules, which will be used as a training resource, will reference and include video clips captured by the Border Lives team, in addition to new interactive content and knowledge quizzes which focus on principles and tools related to narrative and conflict resolution.
Visitors to the open-source, multi-platform site will also be able to create and share their own story using Aurion Learning’s new digital storytelling tool, storee.
Commenting on the launch, Dr. Maureen Murphy, Managing Director at Aurion Learning said:
“The purpose of the E-Learning modules is to demonstrate and underline the importance of narrative and storytelling as a tool for peace-building after conflict. It is designed to encourage people to actively listen and respond to the stories of people who lived on or near the Irish border and to consider the importance of sharing this both with people who lived through the events and those who have been born since.”
She added:
“As specialists in developing creative E-Learning programmes and digital storytelling, resources we are very pleased to share our expertise, particularly on a local project. Our main aim was to create a learning experience that users of all technical capabilities will be comfortable using and will respond to well. I’d encourage everyone to visit the Border Lives site and download, view and share these great online resources.”
The Border Lives project is run by Tyrone Donegal Partnership and funded by the European Union's PEACE III Programme, managed for the Special EU Programmes Body by Pobal.
The special screening, sponsored by DRD Minister Danny Kennedy and Foyle MLA Colum Eastwood took place on the evening of Tuesday 30 September 2014.
For more news and updates, visit www.aurionlearning.com or follow @aurionlearning on Twitter.
