Our values

These core values are the foundation for everything we do

We believe in justice, inclusion, generosity and openness. We work to further these values in conservation capacity building

Overview

Justice and inclusion
Equalising access to learning
Affordable fees
De-colonising the curriculum

Community
Learning together
Forging connections with other conservationists

Generosity and openness Sharing knowledge and helping each other
Open education

Active learning
Learn by doing
Bring your own data and challenges

Caring for nature
Mindful of our impact on biodiversity and climate

Justice and inclusion

We aim to create online learning opportunities that are just, inclusive and affordable

Socially just

We are working to decolonise and diversify our curriculum through co-creation, ensuring more voices are heard and more people’s stories are represented

Inclusive

Our part-time online courses are designed to be flexible, to fit around your existing professional and personal commitments, no matter what they are

We aim to widen our reach, rather than teach the privileged few who can afford to pay $100s per course or $1,000s for private tuition

Expanding the number of learners we support naturally restricts the amount of help and advice we can offer to each individual learner. We counter this by building in ways for you to lean on your fellow students, who often will be able to answer your questions and give you the boost you need

Affordable

We don’t want anyone to be denied access to learning because of financial barriers. We try to set our course fees so that they are affordable to everyone. For some courses and events we allow you to choose the price that feels appropriate to you, while on others we offer substantial discounts based on where you live, or your employment situation

If you still cannot afford our reduced fees, please contact us to discuss how we can make it possible for you to attend. We recognise that you have value beyond your financial resources, and there may be another way you can repay us

Community

  • 👬 We foster a sociable learning community where everyone’s contribution matters, great or small, regardless of your background or conservation career path
  • 🌄 You have far more to learn from each other than you can learn from your tutor
  • 👍 You provide each other with practical and emotional support
  • 😀 Your tutor’s role is to facilitate and empower, not be the focus of your attention

Generosity and openness

Generosity

We believe in radical generosity. Inspired by open education advocates, VerdantLearn makes all our newly-created learning resources openly-licenced and available to study for free. This denies VerdantLearn a potentially substantial income stream, but the benefits to wildlife and wildlands of better conservation action, underpinned by strong science, far outweigh that loss to us as a business. Clinging on to intellectual property and only sharing it with the wealthy does not align with our other values

We know that one generous act can multiply. We hope that you will ‘pay it forward’ by sharing your own knowledge and enthusiasm generously with others, on any course you attend, and with the broader conservation community in the future

Openness

Although most courses will have a private discussion space that can only be used by you and your fellow course-mates, assignments are usually posted publically in an open forum. This allows you to demonstrate your learning in public, providing a record of your new accomplishments and enabling others beyond the course to learn from you

We create Open Educational Resources (OER) by applying a Creative Commons licence to our new course materials and learning activities. We also share our teaching approaches through open pedagogy, and use open source software whenever feasible

We aim for transparency in how VerdantLearn operates, and clarity in our expectations of each other

Active learning

Learning isn’t about reading or watching videos - it’s about trying something out for yourself, connecting new knowledge with what you already know, and testing your skills in real-world situations! We create opportunities for you to tackle the challenges you’re facing right now, and use your own data in exercises and assignments so that each step you take on the course brings you closer to your conservation goal outside the course

Caring for nature

We host our community and business tools on carbon-neutral servers where possible (Digital Ocean’s Frankfurt server). We try to minimise data transfer by reducing our dependence on videos and live meetings, making it easier for you to study with us even on low bandwidth internet connections

Our main bank account is Triodos

Our values and you

As we implement these values in everything we do, we hope that joining a VerdantLearn course will help you feel:

👁️ Seen and 👂 heard in our learning materials and during courses, workshops and events

😄 Valued members of our community of conservationists

Energised in your work, and motivated to complete the course and apply your learning

💪 Empowered to make a difference in conservation, and move forward in your career