Helen Whitehead
Learning Technology Consultant, Nottingham: University Park
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Why take a MOOC?
November 28, 2013
There are many reasons to sign up for a MOOC. What are yours? My reasons are very similar to the reasons I used to start every academic year by enthusiastically signing up for evening classes. My evening classes ranged from creative writing to history, to crafts, to fencing and tai chi. I don’t suppose the …
My family and their rubbish
November 26, 2013
I recently returned from a family holiday to Broadstairs in Kent, a largely unspoilt 19th century seaside resort where my father grew up. There were three generations of us in an 1880s town house (my elderly parents, my middle-aged brother, sister-in-law and myself, and my two young nephews), and two nationalities – British and German. …
Harm and Climate Change, Part II
November 25, 2013
Some of the people affected by climate change (see the IPCC report) are yet to be born. These people will not first experience a planet and way of life unaffected by climate change, only to see that verdant utopia snatched away. Rather, they will only ever experience a degraded planet and way of life. In …
Harm and Climate Change, Part 1
November 23, 2013
The recent report about atmospheric C02 levels reaching the symbolic level of 400 parts per million calls attention to some of the issues dealt with in the Philosophy Department’s Environmental Ethics module. Suppose you are engaged in an activity that causes significant harm to others. It forces them out of their homes, raises the cost …
Introducing Sustainability
November 22, 2013
This post gives you a flavour of the approach we take towards Sustainability in our course: ‘Sustainability, Society and You’. If you ask six of your friends or family to tell you what ‘Sustainability’ means, you would probably get six different answers. Some of us might say it is about saving the planet or protecting …
Meet the MOOC Team
November 21, 2013
Nottingham’s first MOOC, ‘Sustainability Society and You’ is truly a collaborative and interdisciplinary affair. Led by Sarah Speight (left), an archaeologist and education specialist, the team includes academics and postgraduate researchers from Engineering, Chemistry, Philosophy, Sociology, Nursing, Mental Health, Business, Geography, Built Environment and Economics, supported by expert Learning Technologists. Every member of the team …
Mike the Engineer
October 25, 2013
In which Mike Clifford introduces Sarah Speight to the concept of upcycling and she gains a chair. One of the academics who has made a major contribution to the Sustainability course is Mike Clifford, an Associate Professor of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering. Mike never says no. He was co-author of the book Sustainability and Engineering, …
The award for ‘one-take wonder’ goes to….
October 22, 2013
… the team filming the videos for our Sustainability course? Or one of the interviewees? In the 2nd week of September, Nottingham’s video production team worked with me to produce some new films to introduce the various weeks of the Sustainability course. I was nervous about this. The schedule was tight and we were reliant …
My Sustainability Guru
October 18, 2013
I became a convert to Sustainability because I sat next to a particular person in a meeting. This was back in 2011. Keith Pitcher, Nottingham’s first Director of Sustainability, recently arrived from the University of Leeds, presented a paper to a committee of academics on the importance of thinking about sustainability in relationship to teaching. …
Images of sustainability
October 3, 2013
Some of the images used in the iBooks and eBooks on sustainability – on which the materials for the MOOC Sustainability, Society and You are based – are fascinating. The University of Nottingham’s model for understanding sustainability – the 5C model. The holistic definition of education for sustainable development that the UN works to can …
