Reflecting on the Environmental Science and Education 2 course from last year there were aspects that worked well and aspects that I wanted to develop and improve. This was also identified from gathering feedback from students. Last year was my first year running this course so I now have a better big picture understanding of how the polytechnic systems work and how this course could work well within our program.
What worked well;
· The students highlighted that they found the power point lectures and quizzes that I put together on geology and alpine ecosystems to be valuable.
· They also really enjoyed learning through the use of movies e.g. McLibel.
· Students enjoyed the field trips during ESE1 e.g. Quarantine island trip.
What could be improved;
· There was no lecture schedule/timetable. Lots of program changes meant that it was hard to organize lectures or aspects would be dropped. This was particularly frustrating when it involved other outside lecturers e.g. with the living campus project.
· The students found the course outline was not user friendly. They found the assessment tasks were hard to follow.
· Most assessment tasks could be done anytime during the year – which made it challenging for students who left assignments to the last minute and had three assessment tasks due towards the end of the year. It also meant I had a huge amount of marking coming in all at once. Students also found it difficult to remember when due dates were, I believe as a result of being out in the field a lot.
What I have changed or intend to develop
· At the start of this year I completely re-wrote the course outline. I will attached a link on my web page (task 4) to the ESE2 2011 and ESE2 2012 course outlines for you to see. This was part of the Institute of Sport and Adventure collaborative attempt to improve all our course outlines and make them more generic. As part of this I went through the yearly program and came up with a lecture schedule/timeline. There are still a few free lecture spaces that I need to consider – and what would be the best use of this time. One idea I am considering is doing a field trip to the refuse/recycling centre as an education tool – and including having a competition for the best creation made out of recycled materials (with a $5 limit).
· I intend to get some more environmental specific and empowering movies together that can be used in my teaching.
· I changed the assessment tasks so that there was one a term (with due dates being set at either the start or end of each term). The number of tasks was also reduced from four to three, as it was identified that there was too much of a work load for the number of credits for this paper.
· Times were set at the beginning of the year with the living campus team.
· I intend to create some more interactive lectures.
Environmental Science and Education 2 Learning Outcomes:
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Previous Learning Activities (2011) – what worked/what didn’t
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Proposed learning activities
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Resourcing
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1) Understand the natural history of an area and communicate this effectively to others
Assessment task 1: Interpretation
See course outline
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An existing interpretation lecture was the only way the students were set up for this assessment last year. I don’t believe this was enough to create quality presentations.
Later on in the year I created several interactive powerpoints which worked really well. These included team and individual quizzes (on geology and alpine ecosystems). These could also be an invaluable resource for when they are working within the industry or sitting outdoor qualifications.
Students also plagiarised or didn’t reference material in their handouts.
Students were able to do this assessment anytime during the year – a lot of them leaving this to the last minute.
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A series of interactive face-to-face lectures prior to them doing their assessment. This will hopefully set them up with a greater base knowledge to draw on and extend during their presentations. Lectures to include:
1) Interpretation
2) Below the bushline
3) Alpine ecosystems
4) NZ Fauna
5) Geology of NZ
I hope to create a below the bushline and NZ Fauna lectures this semester.
Some ideas for learning activities include: visiting the Botanical gardens to learn native plants, creating a herbarium, and a NZ fauna face painting and presenting session.
This assessment is now due at the end of term 2 and it is clearly stated in bold that students must write in their own words or reference appropriately.
I have also timetabled two afternoon sessions were we will take the ISA vans and they have the opportunity to present to their peers during this time.
Also there are still several lecture slots free in term 3. I was talking to a friend from DOC the other day who would be willing to come and do a guest lecture or two for our students. It would be great for our students to learn from his wisdom but also learn about another avenue that they could pursue with an outdoor background.
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The greatest resource required to improve and develop this learning outcome is my time. I need time to create learning material for these lectures.
Also if we are to get in some guest lecturers it would be finding money for an appropriate koha or payment for their time and efforts.
Van and petrol for scheduled afternoon sessions.
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2) Identify impact on the environment and develop a deeper understanding on how to lessen these impacts concerning current local, national and international environmental issues.
3) Deliver environmental education activities to students.
Both of these learning outcomes are part of Assessment task 2: Teaching for Sustainability
See course outline
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The students were expected to draw on their learnings from Environmental Science and Education 1 (in which they looked at their environmental footprint, presented national/international sustainability issues to their peers, and also had some lectures on relevant environmental issues e.g. global warming).
This worked well in giving them a base to draw from.
However the presentations they did with the clients were often non-interactive and lacked engagement.
I believe that the students needed more experience and ideas in what some environmental activities are that you could use to get a message across.
Students were able to do this assessment anytime during the year – a lot of them leaving this to the last minute.
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Our students have already been taught and delivered to high school students many Adventure-based learning activities. Being creative in adapting these with an environmental focus and drawing on these past experiences will help with their delivery.
I propose to run our students through some environmental activities that I have used or know about.
Both at outward bound and peel forest outdoor pursuits centre I was involved in running environmental education for clients.
I also learnt some environmental education activities during the Nature and Adventure paper that I took while at University.
I hope to pool these resources together and also research into what else is out there to create a resource and a teaching tool for our students.
Hopefully they can develop and creatively adapt these activities to cater to the client group, environment and message that they hope to get across during their session.
This assessment is now due on the last day of term 3.
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Again the greatest resource required is my time.
Also I will need to use the internet and library to source out other environmental activities.
I also thought about visiting and collaborating with the Cromwell campus, as they run a sustainability course – it would be great to see if they have any resources that we could share.
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4) Action positive change and awareness to an environmental or sustainability issue occurring in New Zealand.
Assessment task 3: Action project
See course outline
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Last year this assessment task was introduced at the start of the year and they were expected to find a project and go out and make some change. This worked well for some who were motivated, but others got to the end of the year and had done very little.
As part of the assessment they were asked to keep a blog. This only worked for 2 of the 13 students. The others did not engage with this.
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This year I have already done: 1) Discussion on environmental/sustainability issues in New Zealand.
2)McLibel DVD – looking at how two people went up against McDonalds corporation and won! Using this to drive/inspire what are they passionate about and where could they make a difference 3) Instead of using a blog I am trialling using a secret facebook page to keep each other in the loop with what they are doing. This also provides a way of support each other with any ideas/suggestions/links. I am hoping this will work better as this is something they are more familiar with. 4) They have had to present their action plans to the rest of the class so everyone else knows what they propose to do.
What I propose to do:
1)Have scheduled tutorials where we can touch base where they are at with their plans.
2)Keep in tune with the facebook page when I see anything relevant to a student’s specific project. 3) They will present their posters and what they did to our first years at the end of the year – which will hopefully get the first years already thinking ahead about what they could do the following year. |
Facebook as a new technology – this is something I have not used a lot and are still getting my head around.
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