Victoria University of Wellington researchers are visiting Antarctica this week to film lectures for a new online course launching in 2015.
With support from Victoria’s Antarctic Research Centre, Faculty of Science and Antarctica New Zealand, Dr Rebecca Priestley is flying to Antarctica with Dr Cliff Atkins, a geologist from Victoria’s School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences.
Dr Priestley and Dr Rhian Salmon together form the core of the Science in Context group in the Faculty of Science at Victoria and have been pre-recording lectures for online courses since 2011.
While in Antarctica, Dr Priestley will put together a module on Antarctic science history. Dr Atkins is developing a module on Antarctic geology and paleoclimate research.
The pair will also gather footage for a module about the role of Antarctica, globally and culturally, that will be led by Dr Salmon and Dr Leon Gurevitch from the School of Design.
“The great thing about pre-recording lectures is that there is no need to use a classroom environment,” says Dr Priestley. “Sometimes the teaching is much more effective if you can show the students something they wouldn’t normally see, like taking them on a virtual fieldtrip.”
The pair have filmed in places such as a chemistry laboratory, a rooftop beehive, a botanical garden, and a hilltop wind farm—but say recording field lectures in Antarctica is especially exciting.
“If you’re putting together an online course about Antarctic science, what better place to film the lectures than Antarctica,” says Dr Priestley.
The short online course will be launched in its pilot version next year and will be available to anyone with an interest in Antarctica through Victoria’s Centre for Lifelong Learning.
