Considering Climate Change through an E-postcard

1. Pedagogy of Climate Change, Manchester, 2010 Considering Climate Change through an E-postcard Derek France and Kelly Wakefield Department of Geography & Development Studies, Parkgate Road, Chester, CH1 4BJ

2. Pedagogy of Climate Change, Manchester, 2010 Outline • Literature • Context • Assessment details • Examples • Students experiences and perceptions • Conclusions

3. Pedagogy of Climate Change, Manchester, 2010 Literature.. • A growing body of literature on the visual representation of climate change, (Brönnimann, 2002; Doyle 2007; Manzo 2010 and Nicholson-Cole 2005) • Images of melting glaciers dominate the pictorial language of climate change, powerful symbols of a fragile earth at risk. (Doyle 2007, 129). Or convey discourses of fear, misery and doom (Boykoff, 2008, p. 249) • “Visions of a warming world are inherently political, bound up not only in the fingerprints and harbingers of climate change but also with geopolitical visions of the present and past” (Manzo 2010, p97)

4. Pedagogy of Climate Change, Manchester, 2010 Literature.. • “greater focus on technology will produce real benefits for all” (Department of Education and Skills, 2005, p.2) • HEFCE (2009, p.6) more cautiously states that, ‘focus should be on student learning rather than on developments in technology per se, enabling students to learn through, and be supported by technology” • Oblinger and Oblinger (2005) characterise these students as the ‘net generation’ who are digitally literate, highly Internet familiar, highly social and crave interactivity in image rich environments.

5. Pedagogy of Climate Change, Manchester, 2010 Context • The assessment has two main components attached to ONEPowerPoint Slide presentation: • Digital imagery attached to one PowerPoint slide • Executive summary attached to the notes section of the PowerPoint slide • Level 6, 20 credit climate change module for the last 3 years • 25% of the assessment

6. Pedagogy of Climate Change, Manchester, 2010 E-postcard: Briefing note Rationale • Over most of their time on Earth, humans have been affected by climate but have not had a measurable impact on the climate system. Within the last two centuries, humans have begun to alter climate, although the magnitude of our impacts remains uncertain. Contemporary climate change is topical and currently top of the political agenda. Introduction • In this assessment, you have the opportunity to construct a digital E-postcard (which could be sent to world leaders, like Gordon Brown) highlighting one potential impact of climate change and identify any mitigation strategies.

7. Pedagogy of Climate Change, Manchester, 2010 1. Digital Imagery • Identify ONE potential impact of climate change that would be of interest to the target audience and use onePowerPoint slide to utilize digital imagery to support your position. Use Nicholson-Cole (2005) 5 key visual characteristics:- easy to relate, scientifically certain as possible, clear message, attention grabbing and tailored for the target audience.

8. Pedagogy of Climate Change, Manchester, 2010 2. Executive Summary • Rationale: a brief explanation of the topic of study and why it is important • Research evidence: a justified explanation of the academic research to support the potential impact of climate change • Mitigation strategies: you will need to reflect on what steps need to be taken to reduce the potential impact of climate change • Conclusion: bring together the current position for climate change.

9. Pedagogy of Climate Change, Manchester, 2010 Assessment Criteria

10. RGS-IBG International Conference, London, 2008

11. RGS-IBG International Conference, London, 2008

12. RGS-IBG International Conference, London, 2008

13. RGS-IBG International Conference, London, 2008

14. RGS-IBG International Conference, London, 2008

15. RGS-IBG International Conference, London, 2008

17. Pedagogy of Climate Change, Manchester, 2010 Student Evaluation • Short questionnaire with a number of open questions to assess the student perception of the E-postcard assessment focusing on the: • Impacts upon learning • Engagement and understanding of the subject (+ve and -ve) • Reflection on the real world • Technical skills (+ve and -ve)

18. Pedagogy of Climate Change, Manchester, 2010 ‘A word cloud’ representing students’ perceptions of creating an E-postcard; most frequent words are in a larger font size. (All words occurring more than once have been included, n=136).

19. Pedagogy of Climate Change, Manchester, 2010 Student Perceptions “Very difficult assessment to complete, harder than first imagined. Made me think more seriously about the evidence” “Motivated me to research the topic. It was a new way of producing information in a concise manner” “Had fun creating the postcard section, bit different, could be creative” “Valuable exercise because I’ve learnt more about PowerPoint and the power of imagery”

20. Student Perceptions Pedagogy of Climate Change, Manchester, 2010 “Need more help with the computer. Would be nice to get some feedback before submission” “Having to use imagery helped my research, as I was able to visualise the issue. This enabled me to clearly see the positive and negative sides of the question” “I spent ages trying edit images! A lot of wasted time. Would have preferred just to do an essay” “The images were a good addition as it helped visualise what we were writing about and helps my visual learning style”

21. Pedagogy of Climate Change, Manchester, 2010 Conclusions • Novelty factor of the assessment helps with student engagement • Fun, enjoyable but also challenging • Visualisation of climate change needs to engage the target audience, attention grabbing and memorable • Formative assessment • Digital submission

22. References • Boykoff, M. T. (2008) The Cultural Politics of Climate Change Discourse in the UK Tabloids. Political Geography, 27 p. 549-569. • Brönnimann,S. (2002) Picturing Climate Change. Climate Research, 22, 87-95. • Department for Education and Skills (2005) Harnessing technology transforming learning and children’s services Available online at http://www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/e-strategy/ (accessed 6nd April 2008). • Doyle, J. (2007) Picturing the Clima[c]tic: Greenpeace and the Representational Politics of Climate Change Communication. 16 (2) 129-150. • HEFCE. (2009). E-learning strategy. Retrieved August 20, 2009 from www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2005/05_12/

23. References • Manzo, K (2010) Imaging Vulnerability: the iconography of climate change. Area, 42(1) p. 96-107. • Nicholson-Cole, S.A. (2005) Representing climate change futures: a critique on the use of images for visual communication. Computer, Environment and Urban Studies 29, 255-273. • Oblinger, D. G, and Oblinger, J. L. (2005) Educating the Net Generation. Educause. Available online athttp://www.educause.edu/educatingthenetgen/(accessed 5ndApril 2010). • Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon, 9, No 5. MCB University Presshttp://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf(accessed 20th April 2009).