BaCCC/About/Studying
Contents
Timeframe
How long? You will probably need about seven weeks to complete the whole course. Each module has three lessons in it. Each lesson usually has three parts to it with learning activities sprinkled throughout. You will be learning from readings, videos, practical activities, reflections, short quizzes, and optional discussions with others. Examples, scenarios and case studies come from several different countries around the world. We picture that each lesson will take you one to three hours to complete, but of course that depends on you and your schedule (and the length of the lesson, of course). Take as much time as you need.
Study skills
Because the course is self-paced, you will need to manage your time. Try to find a regular time during the day when you can engage with the course content. For some of you this might be in the evenings, early in the morning or even at night. Try not to work on the course for more than one hour at a time and make sure you stand and move around between study sessions. Because you will usually be working from home, you need to manage your workspace. Try to find a space with good light, a comfortable chair and a table and where you have internet access. If you are keeping a written journal, make sure you have pen and paper. If you are creating a digital journal, we suggest you organise it by module and lesson in the same way as the course is organised. Because the course makes use of a lot of internet resources, you will require good internet navigation skills. Note that all links were active at the time the course was created but over time some of the links might become broken. If you note who or which organisation created the original content, you might like to search for their name on the internet and see what they are currently sharing. You might also find it useful to search online for guidelines related to other study skills such as mind- or concept-mapping, blogging, digital journal keeping, creating e-portfolios etc.
Need Help?
This course has been set up as a self-directed course that can be taken individually or as part of a team.
Your open school might provide a facilitator if the course is offered in blended or online mode – so find out how and when you can communicate with that person. If a discussion forum has been set up for the course, you can reach out to others that way.
You might be working completely independently. If the latter is the case, we suggest that you sometimes talk over your learnings and responses to learning activities with a family member or friend.
We have, in most cases, chosen short videos in case there are internet bandwidth or accessibility issues. (Even rural areas in highly developed countries still struggle with this problem.) If you have problems watching the videos, a short synopsis (summary) of each one is provided in an appendix to the course. Our apologies for any advertisements that pop up when you watch a video, but we cannot control those. Also, you can adjust the playback speed and/or turn on subtitles/captions, which are – sometimes comically – not always reliably correct!
In cases where we have summarised, paraphrased or cited a published report, we have provided a link to the full report, if available online, in the references section.
Our advice is that you start at the beginning and work your way through the course modules in sequence, but this is not actually necessary. Each module stands quite well on its own.
Learning Journals/Forums
There are learning activities in each lesson of each module in this course. It is usually suggested that you write your answers in your Learning Journal, which can be a notebook with handwritten notes, or a digital document file in which you type your answers. In either case, please remember to save your responses. You can write any climate action ideas in your Learning Journal, as well (perhaps highlight them, or put them in a separate section to make them stand out). Later in the course, you will be asked to look over your course notes, and you might want to study them to do well on the quizzes.
The notes in your Learning Journal can be used as the basis for Forum posts in contexts where the course is offered online.
How This Course Will Help You Become a Climate Champion
This course will not teach you absolutely everything you could learn about climate change, but it will teach you enough to understand why we all need to take action. It is filled with examples of what others are doing, tips and tricks, resources, as well ideas and suggestions for climate action.
One thing to do is notice which module(s) and which movies and readings resonate the most for you, make your heart sing, or light your dreams and creativity on fire. That might be the place (issue, topic) where you want to start your journey as a Climate Champion.
| Module | Your learning purpose |
|---|---|
| Module 1 – Climate Change Science | You might want to become someone who helps others understand the science of climate change. |
| Module 2 – Impacts and Consequences of Climate Change | You might want to help people grasp the extreme climate change events heading their way. |
| Module 3 – Climate Justice | You might want to work in a social services / helping field. |
| Module 4 – Climate Change Mitigation | You might want to become a policymaker with your government, or work on mitigation projects with your hands. |
| Module 5 – Intersectionality | You might want to work with vulnerable people. |
| Module 6 – Adaptation and Resilience | You might want to work in Emergency Services. |
| Module 7 – Action for Climate Empowerment | You might enjoy becoming an organiser extraordinaire. |
