Using a spare time university for climate change education

Abstract

Many educational initiatives, including for higher (post-secondary) education, use various forms of technology. This chapter describes another conceptual as well as practical approach for applying educational technology for delivering higher education knowledge: a Spare Time University (STU). The notion of STU is defined and then applied to climate change education beyond the traditional higher education setting. The history, creation, implementation, and limitations of STU are noted along with illustrative examples and a more detailed example of using STU to communicate local climate change impacts on rural areas. The result is that STU becomes an information exchanger and stimulator, not just an information disseminator, with users encouraged to become active in spreading STU’s information and in developing STU’s nuggets and modules.