Environmental Journalism: Education on the Global South

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the development of environmental journalism and the Global South. The material discusses the modern approach to pedagogical design in journalism study. It is important to pay attention to the new request for the learning process and learning technologies from generation Z (Gen Z). The response to the new request is new media educational technologies, including the formation of a unified educational and communication space. The global environmental news agenda is seen as a tool for integrated education and opportunities for professional specialization of students. Environmental journalism is one of the new integrated areas of journalism, which is shaping the educational space in a new way.

1. Introduction

Modern journalism education is undergoing significant changes. Modern journalism today is very diverse and multifaceted. This is not just an integrated industry that includes communications, public relations, sociology, etc. Modern journalism has been significantly expanded due to the civic platform and civic journalism; it includes new formats of interaction with the audience, the use of new approaches and materials. In addition to a paradigm shift in the professional identity of journalism as such, a significant expansion of the boundaries of journalism through citizen journalism, vloggers, etc., digital transformation processes and the impact of the global thematic agenda also have a huge impact. Generation Z and a mix of generations Z and Y want to learn by discussing contemporary global issues, including environmental problems. Gen Z is overwhelmingly worried about climate change: 76% of them say that it’s one of their biggest societal concerns, while 37% make it their number one concern [1]. Taking into account the digital transformation of education and the significant increase in the use of blended learning, there is a need for significant motivation of students to work in online and blended formats. Analysis and construction of training process on the basis of the modern global environmental agenda provides such motivation. Also, the ability to work with a modern social agenda and the environmental problems forms the ability to work with sources, highlighting fake news and disinformation, and creates a professional journalistic view. It is also important to note the fact that environmental journalism today is all about data and numbers. This means that such a general professional journalism competence like a date—journalism increases in demand.

Environmental issues and the environmental agenda are extremely popular in the media today. Every day brings several dozen messages about scientific achievements in the field of the environment, as well as about problems, disasters, cases, etc. In fact, the global environmental agenda is very full today. According to Digital News Report [2], the most popular sources of information on environmental events are television (35% of respondents), online news sites from major news organizations (15% of respondents) and, finally, specialized outlets covering climate issues (only 12% of respondents). Television is not as dead as we all think. Moreover, it is important to note that the interest in the environmental agenda among people is quite high. On average, across all markets, around 69% of respondents of all ages stated that they consider climate change to be an extremely or very serious problem. Less than one in ten (9%) of respondents does not see climate change as serious while around one in five (19%) said they were somewhat concerned [2]. Based on these data, it should be noted that with such a sufficient high popularity of the topic, wide publication of unverified information, the appearance of unreliable expert comments, etc. is possible. In this regard, the specificity of the training for modern journalists appears in terms of the ability to analyze information, constantly adhere to the process of fact-checking, etc.

It should be mentioned that the most popular topics of discussion in 2021, for example, in the Global South, were the issue of utilization of household and industrial waste, business and green washing, forest fires and climate change [3]. Bloomberg in February 2022 mentioned the problem of the cities as a threat for ecology and environment. The World’s Fastest-Growing Cities Are Facing the Most Climate Risk according UN report [4]. The Global South is the most fast developing part of our world with great economic, industrial and human capital potential. But this potential and the fast growth are one of the reasons of environmental problems. The megacities of the Global South have major socio-economic and environmental problems, such as in increase in slum-dwellers, air and water pollution, resource depletion, and rising urban poverty [5].

The ability to understand such a diverse agenda is a separate competence. Environmental journalism has a fairly large technical and technological component. This does not mean that a journalist should have a technical education in general, but it means, to a greater extent, that the specifics of the training of such a journalist should also include a certain technical component, a much larger volume of development of critical thinking and analysis.

Thus, based on the data above, it should be noted that the training of an environmental journalist is a specific both from the point of view of journalism technologies (development of critical thinking, development of analytical data, technology of data journalism, etc.) and from the point of view of content (understanding of special terminology, the ability to interact with experts, a certain technical background, etc.).

The third major challenge is the use of blended or distant learning in journalism education. Such conditions, in the context of the digital transformation of education, are becoming an influencing factor in pedagogical design. And in these conditions, it is necessary to talk about new approaches to pedagogical design in journalism education in general, and especially in environmental journalism study [6]. The ongoing digital transformation of education, the use of a blended format requires the use of media educational technologies for the realization of opportunity of learning in a digital environment.

So it’s important to note. The research problem is actualized by several challenges. First of all, this is the request of Gen Z to include in the educational process topics that are critical and important for them. The problems of climate change, environmental changes in general, certainly belong to such. The second important challenge in the presented interpretation is the change in approaches to pedagogical design and motivational learning tools. And the last challenge is the digital transformation of the learning process and the implementation of the Gen Z request for simplicity, comfort, familiarity and convenience of the learning process and communications.

2. Theoretical and methodological aspects of the learning process in development of environmental journalism in the Global South

Environmental journalism is an important specialization in journalism education today. Based on theoretical review of previous researches and theoretical studies, some key aspects are crucial to be considered to ensure the effectiveness of environmental journalism education in the countries of Global South. It’s important to mention that such tasks are the critical doe development of journalism studies all over the world. It’s crucial to consider some aspects.

The complex of methods of this research consists in the following. The analysis of theoretical sources on the issues under study, logical analysis, interpretation of the results of the functioning of the educational environment and practical educational experience, empirical methods of collecting information were used.

First of all, it’s important to pay attention to the pedagogical (instructional) design plays very bright role in the journalism study today. There are two focuses of the process of pedagogical design in this case. The first important focus is about the pedagogical design of the entire training program for environmental journalists. This is either a training profile program (bachelor’s or master’s), or a specialization program (this is a bachelor’s program with elective courses). In this case, it is necessary to talk about the program’s content and their context.

The second important aspect of pedagogical design is the learning process and using media educational technologies. This is a paradigm shift in the role of the teacher in the learning process and the strengthening of the role of student-centeredness. Taking into account the focus of student-centeredness in the learning process, it is necessary to place a significantly greater emphasis on the group work of students during classes, the work of project groups during the study of the disciplines of the program, student activities in the learning process.

And finally, the third aspect of pedagogical design is the inclusion of a meaningful environmental agenda in the curriculum, the study of technologies and methods of covering global events, and the search for new opportunities for their coverage in social media. This focus plays the big role because it closely connects with motivation process of students. The inclusion of a modern global agenda in the learning process of international journalism will form the necessary motivation, especially in online and blended learning [7].

Nowadays the concept of pedagogical design is changing significantly. In the context of digital transformation, it becomes crucial to meet several challenges of the digital transformation era. First of all, it is necessary to talk not only about the pedagogical design of a discipline or course, which is certainly important. And we need to focus more on the pedagogical design of the information and educational environment as a whole [8]. And from this perspective, its worth talking about the design of the educational environment, educational resource, educational material, motivation to learn. In the context of digital transformation, the issue of motivating students to learn becomes fundamentally important [9].

The transition to a distance learning format showed the need to introduce new tools for motivating people to learn, since the level of self-motivation in this case for Gen Z becomes rather low. It would be beneficial to draw the attention to the fact that among Gen Z, the request for training today correlates with the request for communication. Training should take place in a comfortable, familiar, convenient environment. Solving this important motivational task, it is necessary to build other approaches in the field of pedagogical design. As practice shows, to increase the motivation of students to learn, “flipped classroom” or “inverted learning” technologies work well.

Modern students are not interested in listening to a teacher for a long period of time during the seminar. This is boring and makes them instantly “leave the classroom” on social networks, on media platforms, on podcasts and find something more exciting for themselves. With the flipped classroom, students not only have to study the material, but also prepare it for presentation and present it orally to classmates using the skills of briefing text, group work, presentation and communication skills.

Also, an important condition for modern pedagogical design is the creation of a single informational and educational space. A single informational and educational space today is a controlled and dynamically developing system of effective and comfortable provision of information and communication services to objects of the learning process, taking into account modern trends in education modernization. An important point, based, among other things, on the principle of the convenience of obtaining information for generation Z.

There are several informational and studying blocks that it seems necessary to use within a single informational and educational space of the course. This is actually the information block itself with lecture notes, additional information materials, manuals, articles by researchers on a given topic, links to informational and educational platforms and resources, video platform materials, etc. The second block of materials is training materials, including questions for seminars and colloquia, cases for seminars, as well as cases for an inverted class, interesting and useful, relevant materials for quick reference. The third block of materials is the communication block, which allows you to communicate with students, answer their questions, build the process of E-mentoring on a horizontal and vertical level. And, finally, the fourth compulsory block of materials is the place for independent project group work of students and the space for group work on cases.

This structuring of materials in a single information and educational environment allows solving many educational problems. First of all, this is an opportunity for students to return to the materials if necessary, to study topics in a convenient format and time period, and most importantly, it is the opportunity to see the entire landscape of the course being studied with all information and educational materials and resources. This allows the student to calculate the time, see the entire amount of effort required to achieve the educational goals of the course, etc. And of course, such an approach and such a pedagogical design of the course allow the student to create conditions for a convenient, comfortable and familiar learning in communications.

Considering the issue of changing the concept of pedagogical design in the context of digital transformation, it should also be mentioned that today the pedagogical design should take into account the following conditions. This is a factor in the use of media educational technologies, and in general digital technologies in the framework of education. The technologies used must meet such requirements as convenience and ease of use. Here it is necessary to talk about the interface of the technologies used, and their simplicity as such, and the ability to master them very quickly if necessary. There are many models within the pedagogical design process. There are several characteristics that must be present in all training models. First, pedagogical design is student-centered: the focus is on the student and his/her academic performance. Student-centeredness is becoming more than just an important factor. This is, first of all, a change in the teaching paradigm in general, and a change in the role of the teacher as such. Second, pedagogical design is goal-oriented: well-defined goals are important. Third, pedagogical design is focused on real performance. It is necessary to create an environment in which students must demonstrate the behavior that is expected of them in the real world. This is an important point that becomes fundamentally important in competence-based learning. The development of project and communication competencies, teamwork skills are a fundamentally important task that must be taken into account by pedagogical design in the context of digital transformation. Also, pedagogical design focuses on outcomes that can be reliably measured. Building effective and reliable measuring instruments is essential. Another important characteristic is the understanding that pedagogical design is an empirical process. Data analysis becomes the heart of the pedagogical design process. Finally, pedagogical design is usually a collective effort.

Based on these four blocks, pedagogical design allows to build a curriculum or discipline for training environmental journalism. It is important to note that, depending on the training program or discipline, pedagogical design will focus on different constituent blocks of the program. Separately, I would like to draw the attention to the point that based on this approach in the field of pedagogical design; the following opportunities will open up for environmental journalism studies. These opportunities are associated with the formation of a single educational space for students, and most importantly, with the ability to very quickly update educational materials using news and analytical materials from environmental journalism.

3. Pedagogical design in environmental journalism study

Environmental issues will form the basis for a specialization in environmental journalism [10]. An environmental journalism agenda is also critical to the training of future journalists. It should be noted that, in general, the news agenda is used to educate future journalists [11]. Learning based on real examples, such as a pandemic, the environmental agenda motivates students to think about solving urgent problems, to use their skills to make informed decisions in future crises. Topical articles on science lead to an increase in students’ curiosity, the emergence of issues relevant from the learning point of view, as well as to the creation of a unique educational environment. It is important to note here precisely the creation of an educational environment in which the discussion of the environmental agenda allows the entire group to be involved in the discussion.

Studying materials from well-known news sources helps to involve students in the learning process, since the published information often directly relates to their lives. This greatly helps to increase the motivation of students while studying the course. The involvement of Generation Z in the modern environmental agenda has already been noted above. These topics are interesting for future journalists as they constitute their own generational agenda for discussion. The second benefit in this case is also the motivation for specialization in environmental and science journalism.

The use of news and media material in the direct process can demonstrate how the knowledge and skills included in the theoretical curriculum can be applied in practice. A paragraph from a textbook ceases to be abstract; questions of the isolation of knowledge are removed by themselves. Topical examples of the news and scientific agenda in this case act as topics for the development of the necessary practical competencies. The formation and development of competencies such as group work skills, or project work, based on a modern news agenda, can be used. Also an important aspect in this case is the development of students’ expert skills. Each student has their own area of interest (fashion, sports, environmental agenda, etc.). Discussing the modern environmental news agenda within the framework of practical seminars, some of the students for whom such an agenda represents an area of professional interest can act as experts in the work of project groups. This stimulates motivation for learning on the one hand, allows us to form the status of a student in a group, develops an expert position of student, etc. on the other [12].

News materials allow teachers and students to update the information given in the textbooks. This is one of the most important aspects of using the global environmental news agenda. Updating educational information allows to solve several problems. First, the formation of an actual journalistic position and knowledge of the top topics of modern media themes. Modern media agenda and topics of modern media discussion are forming a professional position. Secondly, it really is the actualization of the information in the textbook. Modern cases (especially at the level of the global agenda) make it possible to increase the digestibility of theoretical approaches and technologies, increase interest in learning and shape practice for further activities [12].

As noted by Hakan, Akcay et al., the above aspects affect the practical and theoretical aspects of both the training of journalists in general and environmental journalists in particular [11].

Thus, the following points should be noted. Environmental journalism studies have challenges in several directions. First of all, training programs or individual disciplines and courses in the field of environmental journalism require significantly new approaches in the field of educational design. Pedagogical design today makes educators, on the one hand, form educational content in a new paradigm, using the modern global environmental agenda. On the other hand, student-centeredness presupposes new educational technologies (which will be discussed below). The motivation of the student is becoming an important factor influencing the paradigm of pedagogical design, and the modern environmental agenda makes it possible to form such motivation. Then the issues of the environmental agenda are the subject of interest of Generation Z, at the same time these issues provide an opportunity to form a professional position for the student. Motivation in the blended or remote education format is becoming a particularly significant challenge. Questions that are the subject of interest of the generation as a whole allow to form such motivation and arouse interest in the learning process itself through content.

An important subject in this case also becomes a change in the role of the teacher, and the inclusion of group work and project work in the learning process, which is based on the environmental agenda, allows to support a paradigm shift and a change in the role of the teacher through the process of pedagogical design. And this is also a paradigm shift in pedagogical design.

And finally global environmental agenda could be used in two ways in instrumental (pedagogical) design. We could use it as basis for environmental journalism study as a whole or for professional specialization or professional identity.

4. Media educational technologies and global environmental agenda in learning process

Considering the basic foundations of modern training programs for journalists of different profiles, as noted earlier, the use of the global environmental agenda can be used precisely for specialization within journalism study. In this material, it is important to note that the specialization in environmental journalism was carried out in the training of international journalists. Based on the above approaches, it is necessary to consider in detail the media education technologies that can be used in such specialization. Thetheoreticalandmethodologicalbasisfortheimplementationofthisapproach (new pedagogical design, student-centered work, etc.) is media education technologies.

Speaking about media education technologies, it is important to note the fact that there is no established definition in the existing discourse. For example, the use of media in the classroom is depicted as media educational technology [13]. The use of classical educational technologies (project team, for example) in the digital space will also be a media education technology ([14], p. 78).

Nevertheless, I would like to highlight that the main media educational technologies that can be applied in this context to form the specialization of students in the field of environmental journalism in the framework of international journalism. It is important to note from this perspective that the use of the global environmental agenda, for example, looks very attractive and potentially.

As noted by Cai Melakoski, Richard Vickers and James Field, modern media education technologies are integrated on the one hand and implement an innovative and creative approach on the other ([15], p. 63). In classroom universities are looking for new forms of online learning, investing rather large budgets in the development of distance learning, eLearning, mobile learning, etc. Now the possibility of distance education and hybrid (blended) learning will be used widely. Media educational technologies today mean not only the use of media, but also the implementation of modern educational technologies in the digital environment into the educational environment. And the introduction of a global environmental agenda into the educational space is becoming an important factor in the specialization of a journalist.

The use of global news in journalism education in general, and within the framework of specialization has been used not so long ago. The global news agenda, the same example with COVID-19, fits into the format of phenomenon-based learning—a concept that is actively used in Finnish schools and has already begun to be applied around the world. It is also suitable for problem-based learning [16].

It is necessary to note the important areas of development of journalistic competencies, which are formed and developed through the use of the global news agenda in general and the environmental agenda in particular. First of all, it is the need to teach journalism students the basics of scientific literacy by acquainting them with important scientific views and selected theories of science and scientific communication. It is also vital to teach students to write about scientific discoveries and events to the general public in an accessible way. Another important task is to organize a discussion in the group using the relevant environmental agenda news to teach students to communicate their opinions and ideas to the rest of the group. The aim is for them to become competent facilitators and channels of the scientific worldview for the masses. It becomes important to teach students basic numbers and how to write about statistics in ecology. And finally, the skill of communication and interaction with scientists in the preparation of journalistic or media material in general becomes an important competence. This is where interview skills become important. Such a task can also be implemented in the group work, or when working in couples. This achieves the complexity of specializing in environmental journalism.

It is necessary to highlight two components of proposed approach. To develop a professional specialization in the field of the environmental journalism, students can use work in project groups to prepare thematic essays and presentations, participate in seminars as internal experts on environmental issues, perform individual and group assignments, taking into account this topic. Preparation of materials for student media is becoming an important area of professional training, taking into account specializations in the field of environmental journalism [17].

The second direction of development considers the digital transformation of the learning process and is aimed at the formation of a single information and educational space (MS Teams, Google) and the use of knowledge management technologies. It’s important to publish the presentation and lecture materials, links to information resources, articles, tutorials, materials of visual platforms, links to open materials of educational platforms in the single educational and informational space ([8], p. 68). These opportunities provide the work of student project groups, group work, E-mentoring within a single educational space. These media educational technologies are used to implement the tasks of pedagogical design, and to ensure the process of digital transformation of education.

The use of knowledge management principles is very important in the formation and development of training and specialization of a journalist. The concept of knowledge management itself is not new, but its use within the framework of the formation of a single information and educational space and the implementation of the principles of convenience, comfort and familiar for Gen Z gives many advantages. There are three major types of knowledge management systems: enterprise wide knowledge management systems, knowledge work systems, and intelligent techniques. Knowledge Management is a process where value is derived from knowledge by reframing, structuring, and storing data held within the organization. It has a multidisciplinary approach which is mostly used in aiming to achieve objectives through the best potential use of knowledge. The primary aim of Knowledge Management is to enhance the performance and to make a strategic approach towards the goals [18]. The main goal in this situation is very detailed, integrated and multilateral environmental journalism study. Paying attention to the best practices from corporate sphere it’s possible to use the following elements of Knowledge Management as collaboration, constant access to the course materials, all tools in one place and easy communication with students and teacher.

5. Global environmental agenda in journalism study’s process

As noted above, environmental journalism as a direction is developing rapidly. This is also based on the interest in existing environmental problems on the part of Gens Z and Y. Also, the global environmental agenda itself becomes an important factor and tool for training future journalists. The environmental situation on Global South takes one of the first place here.

It could show on the example of the using global agenda in journalism study in Russia. The Russian educational agenda is fully included in the global agenda of journalism education. As noted above, the profiling and specialization of journalism education today is under strong pressure from both changes in the demand of the students themselves and the emergence of new areas of journalism. Humanities education today looks much broader than even a few years ago, and the humanization of modern education as a whole contains a large humanitarian agenda [19]. As it was also noted earlier, the environmental agenda in the modern world is of growing interest and attracts the development of journalism as a new direction. Students of our faculty are in demand not only in Russia, they also work in international companies, and knowledge of the modern international journalistic agenda becomes a strength for them when looking for a job. In this regard, specialization in the field of environmental journalism and environmental journalism is becoming in demand among our students. It was these parameters that became the basis for reflection at the faculty when designing the learning process and choosing approaches in the field of pedagogical design.

The reliance on the experience of specialization and professional identification of journalists in the process of studying at the Master’s program in international journalism allows us to speak of the following results. Specialization in professional spheres took place within the framework of several courses, one of them was “Modern Media Communications”. Professional specialization went within the framework of this course in several directions, including environmental journalism.

Considering all the materials listed above, it’s really crucial to talk about acquired results. First of all, the training within the framework of this course took place in blended format, which makes it possible to talk about the need to use the pedagogical design approach in the context of digital transformation. The main emphasis within the framework of the pedagogical design of the course was placed on motivating students to study in a hybrid format (both in the classroom and in a remote format simultaneously or sequentially), on the convenience and habit of receiving information and communicating in a digital environment, and maximum use of relevant materials and the global environmental agenda for the formation and strengthening of professional specialization in environmental journalism. From the point of view of the specifics of pedagogical design, a single educational space was formed for masters studying the course, the principle of reverse learning, group work of students and project work in blended space, and the use of the 3A concept were widely used. The Google Classroom ecosystem was chosen as a single educational space. As additional elements of the educational space Google Doc, Google Sheet and Canva, Google Chat and WhatsApp for fast communication were used during studying process.

I would especially like to share the following results. I would like to highlight the fact that within the course came the specialization of students in several directions, and environmental journalism was one of them. Students who chose a certain specialization became experts in the chosen field. They studied their direction, chose the most interesting materials for presentation during the seminars. Each lesson featured a presentation of the global agenda by student experts. Each student presented during the seminar three key news for a week in their area. It could be an event, or a discovery, or news that has become the most discussed over the past period. One of the directions for environmental journalism in the context of a pandemic has become information about COVID-19, for example. I would like to note the great interest of students in this expansion of their own professional identity. For example, during one of the seminars there was the topic of a significant increase in the volume of plastic waste in the form of used coronavirus tests and a huge number of used masks. This information sparked a lengthy and active discussion, after which students—experts in environmental journalism made a special group project presentation on the impact of COVID-19 on the environment. This significantly expands the media landscape of knowledge of students in different selected specializations and mutually enriches their knowledge in different areas. This element of knowledge management of the course as a whole turned out to be in demand among students.

The second tool for the development of specialization in environmental journalism was the development of expert skills of students. During the seminars, discussion topics were formed in such a way that, in addition to theoretical knowledge on the subject, students could comment on the situation from the position of their expert position and use the modern global environmental agenda as arguments.

Also, a separate task within the course was an interview with specialists and experts in the field of the chosen specialization, in this case with experts in the field of the environmental agenda, and then the presentation of the results of the interviews during the seminars.

Separately, I would like to highlight group project work in a distance format in a single educational space in Google Doc, Google Sheet and Canva. The topics of this group essay and presentation were the preparation of materials on natural disasters, local environmental problems, poverty, hunger, food production, etc. As part of this work, it was necessary to analyze and compare the news coverage of any selected topic or news content in two or more newspapers, media channels or news sources. It was important to note the differences in lighting and the reasons for these differences. It was necessary to select one national, one global and one local news media.

Also, as part of the development of specialization in the field of environmental journalism, student round tables and mini-conferences were widely used. These media technologies have proven to be very effective. For example, the data about the conditions which were indicated by the students as the most important for their future work. Among more than 120 students of last 2 years 91% of students rated these tools as effective (internal data). This is because when preparing speeches and discussions in such an activity, students use and develop a variety of competencies. This is the skill of finding information, and the ability to prepare information briefs, the skills of speaking and presenting material to an unprepared audience (which is especially important for environmental journalism), the development of an expert position, the search for arguments to support the theses, critical thinking, the skill of widespread use of media tools and the media sphere. It is important to note here the complexity of specialization in environmental journalism. As noted earlier, the environmental agenda is very popular with generation Z on the one hand, which means it is difficult to interest the audience and find exclusive material. On the other hand, there are not so many serious and trusted materials in the media, which makes it difficult to prepare for such assignments. At the same time, it is important to note the large number of personal media resources in this area (blogs, groups on social networks, etc.) [20]. This always requires serious fact-checking the accuracy of the information and significant work with the sources of information. It develops critical thinking, attention to details, etc.

Separately, I would like to highlight the results of increasing student motivation in a hybrid and distance learning format. It is no secret that such formats require additional motivation of students to complete assignments, on the one hand, and active work at seminars and colloquia, on the other. It was the concept of the “flipped class”, the use of group work on cases to study theoretical material and then “collecting theory” in the framework of group presentations, speeches and discussions that gave the necessary activity during seminars and lectures. The main result is that the shift from the “usual” lecture format to independent study of theoretical material in a small group and then consolidating it in the process of discussion in the main group showed the value of knowledge and made it possible to manage knowledge within the discipline.

Also, a separate result should be highlighted the use of quick surveys at the end of the classes using the resource www.mentimetr.com. Different survey formats make it possible to consolidate knowledge and complete a lesson of any format. Google Forms in this case turned out to be less spectacular in terms of presentation of results. And, of course, such surveys with the presentation of results in the process of answering questions played an important role in motivating distance learning. This is something that is familiar and comfortable for Gen Z.

An important development of environmental journalism study is the creation and development of students’ own media resources for the chosen professional specialization. At the Russian State University for the Humanities, students have such an opportunity. For example, our students created their own media project dedicated to science: @ecotechscience. The students talked about clean technological energy, about scientific progress in the study of ecology, the creation of new ways of processing and production of alternative energy and much more. The goal of the project is to popularize ecology as a science in modern society. The same role is played by the personal pages of students in social media.

To evaluate the results of this approach and analyze the existing learning process at the faculty, a survey was conducted of 3rd and 4th year undergraduate and 1st year master’s students in the direction of “International Journalism and Modern Media Communications”. The survey was conducted during 2019, 2020, and 2021. In general, more than 120 students were interviewed. The survey was aimed at identifying the involvement and satisfaction of students with the learning process, teaching methods, etc.

Ease of using a single information and educational space in journalism education was noted by 87% of students of the Faculty of Journalism of the Russian State University for the Humanities (internal data). Also 83% of students noted that such specialization during the course was very useful and potential for them (internal data). The study of the methodological possibilities of the global topical agenda, the opportunity of professional specialization during training and media education technologies with professional specialization in the field of environmental journalism will create new opportunities and approaches in journalism education. At the same time, it is important to note that environmental journalism is one of the most potential directions in modern journalism, as well as on the global and local agenda. The inclusion of relevant issues on the global agenda will also create the necessary motivation in blended and online learning.

6. Theoretical and practical conclusions of the global agenda’s use in learning process in Russian State University for Humanities

As the practice of implementing such an approach environmental journalism as a direction of specialization has shown, it turned out to be interesting for our students. This certainly lies in line with the global trend of journalism education in general. The inclusion of the global agenda as one of the tools for the development of specialization and profiling of environmental journalism did not just arouse interest among students in the discussions at the seminars. We can use the environmental global news agenda as a learning tool in integrated approach. On the one hand, it supports students’ interest in the extremely popular Green Economy and allows them to be at the forefront of the modern agenda. As part of the existing educational process, the global agenda has become a learning tool that allows the formation and development of several complex professional and universal competencies. The global agenda becomes the subject of educational projects for a group of students. An important component is the development of the student’s expert position and participation in group projects as mentors and experts. And finally, the conclusions from the implementation of this process also allow us to propose a global agenda as a topic and a way to maintain interest and motivation for learning, especially in online and hybrid formats. The conclusions and results of using the global agenda in the environmental journalism learning process allow us to make an assumption about the potential of this journalistic tool in the further learning process. Many opportunities can be found in the educational program for the potential use of the global agenda. It is equally important to note the opportunities for the formation of specialization of future journalists in the field of environmental journalism. The potential of this direction, taking into account the current state of the economy, the situation of energy transition and the formation of new principles of the economy based on ESG approach the potential for the development of future journalism education is also very important.