Considering Climate Change through an E-postcard Derek France and Kelly Wakefield Department of...

Considering Climate Change through an E-postcard

Derek France and Kelly WakefieldDepartment of Geography & Development Studies,Parkgate Road, Chester, CH1 4BJ

Pedagogy of Climate Change, Manchester, 2010

1. Literature

2. Context

3. Assessment details

4. Examples

5. Students experiences and perceptions

6. Conclusions

Outline



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)

• “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.

Literature..


Context

• The assessment has two main components attached to ONE PowerPoint Slide presentation:

1. Digital imagery attached to one PowerPoint slide

2. 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


E-postcard: Briefing noteRationale

• 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.


1. Digital Imagery

• Identify ONE potential impact of climate change that would be of interest to the target audience and use one PowerPoint 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.


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.


Assessment CriteriaCriteria Weighting 3rd

(40-44%) 3rd (45-49%)

2/2 (50-59%)

2/1 (60-69%)

1st (70-100%)

Imagery 40% Poor digital image quality, which is relevant to the target audience.

Fair digital image quality, which is relevant to the target audience.

Competent digital image quality, relates to an appropriate target audience, with a clear attempt to take ownership through adaptation of the imagery in the presentation.

Good digital image quality, relates to a specific target audience, with a clear attempt to customise the use of the imagery to fit purpose in the presentation.

Excellent digital image quality, relates to a specific target audience with an innovative use /design of the imagery in the presentation.

Summary 40% No clear focus and clarity, ove rly descriptive, with little or no attempt to justify the research

Lacks focus with limited attempts made to justify the E-postcard. Research shows consideration and reflection on key points. Little evidence of wider research and mitigation strategies

Reasonable attempts made to justify the E-postcard. Research shows consideration and reflection on key points. Limited evidence of wider research and mitigation strategies

Justification of the E-postcard logical. Research includes reflection on key points and the reflective points are supported by wider research and focused on the mitigation strategies

The E-postcard is comprehensively justified. Research evidence is comprehensive and considers key points. Points are well supported by wider research. High level of explanation and entirely focused on the mitigation strategies

Writing style and structure

10% Quality of English acceptable, very weak throughout with errors and only basic arguments. Poor structure.

Writing style is poor but arguments can be discerned. Frequent spelling and grammatical errors. Poor layout.

Writing style is clear in places. Arguments clear but compromised. Some spelling and grammatical errors. Reasonable layout.

Writing style is clear, but not concise. Arguments clearly presented. Minor / no spelling and grammatical errors. Pleasing layout.

Writing style is clear, concise and presents arguments very effectively. Minor / no spelling and Grammatical errors. Excellent layout.

Referencing 10% Referencing poor and incomplete

All references limited, and often incorrect.

All references included, but the majority incorrectly made.

All references included, the majority correctly made.

All references included and correctly made.


RGS-IBG International Conference, London, 2008

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)


‘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).


Student Perceptions

“Motivated me to research the topic. It was a new way of producing information in a concise manner”

“Valuable exercise because I’ve learnt more about PowerPoint and the power of imagery”

“Had fun creating the

postcard section, bit

different, could be creative”

“Very difficult assessment to complete, harder than first imagined. Made me think more seriously about the evidence”


Student Perceptions“Need more help with the computer. Would be nice to get some feedback before submission”

“The images were a good addition as it helped visualise what we were writing about and helps my visual learning style”

“I spent ages trying edit

images! A lot of wasted time.

Would have preferred just to

do an essay”

“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”


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


• 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/

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 at http://www.educause.edu/educatingthenetgen/ (accessed 5ndApril 2010).

• Prensky, M. (2001) Digital Natives Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon, 9, No 5. MCB University Press http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf (accessed 20th April 2009).

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