While Germany is considered the birthplace of the green party and receives world-wide attention for its efforts to implement the “Energiewende,” the U.S. is often perceived as a nation more interested in profit-making than the environmental agenda. Both countries pursue sustainable development, but their approaches differ.

“Going Green” is a German-American blended-learning project that will look at the different measures both countries are implementing concerning environmental issues. Students will explore the role of federal, local, state and grassroots initiatives and contest commonly held stereotypes. Discussions with counterparts in both countries regarding local and personal measures to protect the environment while allowing for economic development will be explored via social media and ICT. The year-long activities include nation-wide teacher training with U.S. experts and content development for an e-learning platform in the preparatory phase. The active project phase will begin in August/September 2014 in schools throughout the country.

Learners will reach out to local policy makers and organizations, compare measures that could be implemented in their families, schools, and communities. As a project objective, learners are encouraged to develop ideas for real life actions that further the environmental agenda, present them online and at a concluding conference, and contribute them to a peer reviewed competition. Students in Germany and the U.S. will learn from each other in a Moodle-based blended learning environment. “Going Green” emphasizes the impact, or rather opportunity of the individual as an agent for positive change.

This presentation will discuss innovative methods and resources for material design with a focus on the learning potential of digital and audiovisual media in teaching American studies. Sample materials facilitate an explorative and interactive approach to the topic of sustainability through the lens of culture. Independent study modules on diverse sustainability issues (plastics, mobility, green cities, eco-tourism, and others) allow for individual specialization while illustrating their interconnectedness and local significance. The project tasks encourage students to become authors and publishers of their own target language texts and engage in authentic intercultural discourses on the Web.

Finally, the presentation will look at how such learning projects can be carried out on a national and international scale. This is possible because non-educational and educational institutions such as the U.S. Embassy, Leuphana University Lüneburg and eXplorarium Life e.V. are cooperating closely. The workshop contribution will demonstrate how such alliances can further the agenda of opening universities and schools to the "real world" and encourage democratic participation.