What to Expect
We strive to make these workshops an immersive, interactive experience. This means you will be doing much more than simply sitting and listening.
Synchronous Sessions
For all of the synchronous sessions you will be encouraged to participate via the chat feature. Each talk will have discussion time at the end of it and you can ask questions with the chat feature or over the phone. So come with your questions! Synchronous sessions will be recorded so you can catch up on missed sessions.
Sychronous sessions will use the Elluminate software for screen sharing and a conference call telephone line for the audio. By far the best way to do the audio for the workshop is to use a phone that accepts a headset and to have a headset with a mute button. This will allow you to mute yourself during presentations. It is also really convenient to have your hands free during the sessions so you can type. Please do not use a speakerphone or a cell phone. These will introduce noise into the conference call. So if you can, secure a headset that you can use for the workshop. Read more about the technical aspects of the online workshop.
Discussion Threads
Every day will have a discussion thread for relevant topics. These are a great way to keep the conversations going between sessions. We'd like everyone to read and post in these discussions each day of the workshop.
Working Group Projects
There will be two projects during the workshop. It is these projects that make this a workshop rather than a conference. We feel that it's essential that everyone take part in the learning process by jumping in with hands-on projects. Plus, you will meet new people and you will come away with materials that you can use directly in your own classrooms.
1. Myth Debunking –The first project will be on Wed, April 4. John Cook will lead a session about the process of correcting a climate myth. Then it will be your turn to create a response to a climate myth you have encountered. We will work in small groups of 2-3 people, with each group given one climate myth to work on. You will have from Wednesday afternoon until Thursday afternoon to work with your group to fill out a web page that contains your response to the climate myth and describes how other educators could use this response in their classrooms. On Thursday afternoon we will do a show-and-tell of each of the web pages created by the groups.
If you miss the April 4 session, you won't be able to take part in the debunking project. We understand that not everyone will be able to take part but we hope that most of you will.
2. Enhancing Climate Communication – This second project will be slightly more involved than the first one. Again, we will work in small groups and it can be the same group as the first project or it can be a new group. Each group will browse through the CLEAN collection and find a classroom activity that matches the topic and audience that you teach. Then you will create an add-on to this activity that describes how educators can emphasize effective communication while teaching this activity.
For example, this Carbon Dioxide Exercise involves students making graphs of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. The activity has a lot of latitude for how this could be tied into the rest of the course. What are the take-away messages from the activity? What misconceptions may be uncovered during this exercise? And what steps could instructors take to make sure that students get the most out of the science that is illustrated by this activity?
So each group will find a suitable activity in the CLEAN collection, come up with ways to add to the communications element of the activity, and create a web page that will assist educators in using effective communication strategies.
This work will take place from Thursday evening through Monday morning, and we'll do another round of show-and-tell on Monday morning. Then we'll spend the rest of the day on Monday reviewing each others' pages and giving feedback to strengthen the work. This process is fun because you get to see what other groups have come up with and you get helpful feedback on your own work.
You'll have most of Tuesday to make finishing touches on your pages. Ultimately the pages will me made live on the CLEAN site.
Phew! So as you can see it will be a busy but exciting week.