Advent calendar #1: A December of preparation!
December 1, 2013
Welcome to December! As we lead up to our first MOOC, Sustainability, Society and You, in January, we are going to have an Advent calendar throughout the month of December – there’ll be a short informative post every day, with tips on being a student in a MOOC, sneak peeks at content, sustainability news and …
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. …
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 …
The University of Nottingham on FutureLearn
November 20, 2013
The University of Nottingham will offer free courses online as part of the FutureLearn initiative. FutureLearn is the first UK-led, multi-institutional Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) platform. The Futurelearn proposition is to increase access to Higher Education for students in the UK and around the world by offering a diverse range of high quality courses …
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, …
