Advent calendar #12: an innovative educational platform
December 12, 2013
Subarna Sivapalan is a PhD candidate and teacher in Malaysia who helped to facilitate the NOOC – Nottingham Open Online Course – which was the pilot for the MOOC Sustainability, Society and You which starts on January 6th and can be joined now for free on the FutureLearn website. The NOOC as an innovative educational platform …
Advent calendar #11: A student’s view
December 11, 2013
Fouzia Nawaz offers the student view on our Sustainability online course: Online learning tools are popular among students as it is easy to access and offer flexibility for the learner to complete the tasks in their own time. Last spring as part of Nottingham Advantage Award, University of Nottingham launched an online course on “Perspectives …
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 #8: Secrets of the video shoot!
December 8, 2013
Simon Barnett spills the secrets of the video production for the MOOC Sustainability, Society and You starting on FutureLearn on January 6th. The whole idea for the video shoot was to be as efficient as possible while still making all the content interesting. Much of the interest comes from what a variety of people have to …
Advent calendar #7: Sustainability in the street
December 7, 2013
Recently I took a short break from all our MOOC preparations and spent an enjoyable weekend in Barcelona. Among the Gaudi, Picasso and other delights of a city I thoroughly recommend for a visit, I came across this alongside the Arc de Triomf. A waste audit in a Barcelona square! Children were being encouraged 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 #4: On becoming a MOOC video star!
December 4, 2013
In preparation for the MOOC Sustainability, Society and You, a series of short films were shot in the University’s Cripps Hall House as mentioned by Sarah in her previous post ‘The award for ‘one-take wonder’ goes to…’ My role was to interview a number of the guests and tour the house picking up on what …
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 …
Advent calendar #2: Setting up for filming for the MOOC
December 2, 2013
Lots of videos have been produced for the MOOC Sustainability, Society and You available via FutureLearn from January 6th next year. They are all, of course, themed around different sustainability issues, and many have been filmed in an ordinary house on the campus of the University of Nottingham, where we could look in detail at the …
