Hebron Funds Digital Oceans Project
Newfoundland and Labrador schools to collaborate on marine digital media project
Project supported by the Hebron Project
Students in rural areas will access technology, educational material live from vessels and university field facilities
Program to involve about 30 schools in the province
November 4, 2013 - The Digital Oceans Project, an innovative marine program developed by the Oceans Learning Partnership, will enable high school students in Newfoundland and Labrador to develop a website and applications for mobile devices that will help them research the marine environment.
The Hebron Project is contributing $150,000 CDN for the program. The Hebron Project previously contributed $400,000 CDN to the Oceans Learning Partnership's at-sea marine education program for schools.
Throughout the year-long project, students will design and produce a series of mobile applications to map the seabed in Holyrood Bay, Bonne Bay and Newman Sound. They will also assist in the development of an educational website that will stream video content from underwater equipment and marine field facilities affiliated with the Oceans Learning Partnership, Memorial University and Parks Canada into classrooms across the province.
"The Hebron team supports educational programs that expose young people to careers in ocean sciences, technology and engineering," said Hebron Senior Project Manager and ExxonMobil Canada Properties Vice President Geoff Parker. "Through this initiative, young people in rural areas of the province will have a unique opportunity to access technologies used in the offshore oil and gas sector. These are practical, marketable skills that will open doors for young people in the future."
"The vision of the Digital Oceans Project is to create a platform for educational exchange and collaboration, where students themselves are actively engaged in contributing and producing content," said Oceans Learning Partnership Chairman Roger Pearson.
"Our goal is to engage students in discovering the marine environment around them and creating locally relevant content about the ocean, more particularly the waters off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador and the broader North Atlantic basin," said Mr. Pearson. "We want them to discover what is in their own back yard, and through that process of discovery, perhaps pique their interest in marine-related careers."
The Oceans Learning Partnership is a private-public partnership that supports and promotes the development of hands-on, at-sea learning experiences for high school students in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Content from Digital Ocean Project partners Parks Canada, Memorial University, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and others such as the Hebron Project will also be developed and broadcast via the website.
Product-development ideas for the website and mobile applications will be generated by the newly created Hebron Project Digital Innovation Challenge, which will put student and professional teams together to brainstorm concepts and content. An advisory committee of digital media and business specialists will be set up to provide advice and recommendations regarding proposed concepts. The winners will be announced in June 2014. The official launch of the website is slated for September 2014 at the international conference, Oceans 2014, in St. John's.
About the Hebron Project
Hebron is an oil field located offshore Newfoundland and Labrador in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin 350 kilometres southeast of St. John's, NL. The Hebron Project co-venturers are ExxonMobil Canada Properties (operator), Chevron Canada, Suncor Energy Inc., Statoil Canada and Nalcor Energy. For more information on the Hebron Project visit www.hebronproject.com.
About the Oceans Learning Partnership
The Oceans Learning Partnership (OLP) is a multi-stakeholder non-profit educational enterprise that has been formed to oversee and mobilize support for an Ocean Education Initiative for the youth of Newfoundland and Labrador. The overarching goal of the Ocean Education Initiative is to spark interest in the ocean by creating dynamic, hands-on learning experiences at sea that expose young people in the K-12 school system to the full spectrum of ocean-related careers, from fisheries sciences to meteorology, physical oceanography and coastal and ocean engineering. Reflecting its mission, the Ocean Education Initiative's tagline is: "Today's Kids...Tomorrow's Ocean Professionals".
For more information:
Oceans Learning Partnership
Maria Giovannini
Project Director, Digital Oceans Project
C: 709-746-4252
E: mariag@olp-nl.org
Hebron Project
Lynn Evans
Public & Government Affairs Advisor
T: 709-752-6433
E: lynn.evans@exxonmobil.com