Teaching Portfolio

Online education offers so many new tools and resources to connect with students. Learn more about my teaching philosophy.

For this course, I utilized backwards design and focused on learning goals for students first. I share learning outcomes in all assignments to help students understand course goals. 

Course learning outcomes

1. Students will be able to define climate risk and identify climate risks for different regions, including where they live.

2. Students will connect as an online community to assess how climate risk is viewed and evaluated in different regions.

3. Using real life examples like sea level rise and wildfires, students will role play as resource managers and debate the pros and cons of different climate adaptation strategies. 

4. After successful completion of this course, students will be able to formulate climate adaptation and mitigation strategies for a region of their choice. 

Teaching online requires creating an intentional online community. Here's how I would address some components of community building in online education in my syllabus:

"In this online course, we are all members of an online learning community. Participation is not logged by attendance in class hours, but you are expected to spend the equivalent hours on the course throughout the term. Participation in the course includes completing assignments, viewing and reading all required videos and readings, actively engaging in our class discussions, and working with your peers in group projects. Engaging with the course and your fellow learners is an important part of creating a fun, respectful, and engaging learning community." 

Online education can be enhanced with Web2.0 tools. In this online discussion, I use online tools like an interactive New York Times article and the online whiteboard program Miroboard to allow for an interactive and collaborative discussion.

In this formative assignment, students are posed with the threat of sea level rise to their city and play an interactive, online game to test their decision making. Games enhance student learning and let students role play real life scenarios, like sea level rise. The real question is, "What would you do to save your city from sea level rise?" 

In the final assignment for this course, students create a climate resilience plan for a city of their choice using the US Climate Toolkit. Components include understanding the city's exposure to climate risk, assessing vulnerability and risks, investigating mitigation options, prioritizing and planning actions the city can take, including some personal actions.