Advent calendar #21: What is a MOOC anyway?
December 21, 2013
A MOOC is a Massive Open Online Course. It is a free online course open to anyone with internet access. A MOOC is designed for large numbers of participants and is often taken for personal and professional development as well as simple interest. Participants in a MOOC can take part as much or as little as they …
Advent calendar #18: A facilitator’s view
December 18, 2013
Georgina Wood writes: Sadly my time at Nottingham is coming to an end as I submit my PhD thesis and move on to pastures new! My PhD focused on the ‘water literacy’ of young people in the East Midlands of the UK. By this I mean the conceptual knowledge and understanding teenagers have about how …
Advent calendar #17: Sustainability issue – food waste
December 17, 2013
Would you have thought that VIPs would ever eat imperfect fruit and vegetables? Yet this was exactly what happened in February, when the United Nations treated 500 delegates at its Environment Programme event in Nairobi to a five-course meal of blemished African fruit and vegetables – exactly the kind of food that Western supermarkets would have …
Advent calendar #15: Sustainable gift-wrapping
December 15, 2013
There are many ways to wrap Christmas gifts in a sustainable way. Key principles of sustainability are reduce, re-use, recycle, and these can readily be applied to gift wrap. A good start is to ensure all gift paper is recycled. Other ideas include: Wrap gifts in fabric and ribbon – the fabric can be re-used …
Advent calendar #14: Sustainable Christmas holidays?
December 14, 2013
A top tip from the Sustainability people here at the University is to save energy by powering down over the holidays. Before you leave for the Christmas holiday remember to turn off and unplug (if possible) all electrical equipment such as computers, monitors and other peripherals. The University of Nottingham MOOC Sustainability, Society and You …
Advent calendar #10: A welcome
December 10, 2013
Today, the Sustainability, Society and You MOOC Team offer a big sustainable welcome to Andy Nolan, who joined The University of Nottingham in December to take up the role of Director of Sustainability. He is responsible for the University’s environmental strategy, energy management, grounds management, carbon, waste, and travel plan, as part of the University’s commitment to …
Advent calendar #6: Reduce, re-use, recycle
December 6, 2013
The 3Rs of sustainable waste practice are a key part of one of the weeks of our course Sustainability, Society and You, as they have been in the pilot which was run within the University – the NOOC. Students discuss their own recycling practices (or not!) and often find there are obvious actions that they …
Advent calendar #5: A handmade Christmas
December 5, 2013
In a particularly seasonal addition to our Advent Calendar, Dr Mike Clifford tells us about sustainable Christmas gifts: A few months ago I picked up this book from a book sale in the Portland Building. Rev. Billy is a larger than life environmental campaigner / performance artist who, together with the “Church of Stop Shopping” …
Advent calendar #3: Biodiversity offsetting and the value of nature
December 3, 2013
Neil Sinclair, a philosophy lecturer involved in the Sustainability, Society and You MOOC on FutureLearn. has recently posted on the Think About It blog about the ethics of biodiversity. His post Biodiversity Offsetting and Extrinsic Properties talks about the involvement of Nottinghamshire in the pilot phase of the biodiversity offsetting scheme about which the UK Government …
Get ahead – read the free books on Sustainability
November 30, 2013
The open online courses on sustainability take advantage of a comprehensive series of free books that were produced on different aspects of sustainability. These eBooks and iBooks are free to download and an interesting read whether or not you’re planning to take the Sustainability, Society and You which is available now for booking on the FutureLearn website. …
