LEARNING DIARY

Climate.now – Arctic course 2018

Student’s name and student number: __________________________________________

University: _______________________________________________________________

Contents

1. INSTRUCTIONS
2. GENERAL REFLECTIONS
3. COURSE BOOKS
4. VOCABULARY RELATED TO THE COURSE

1. INSTRUCTIONS
In the learning diary, students reflect on what they have learned and how it relates to them
as individuals, as members of society and as professionals in their fields of study. In other
words, the purpose of the learning diary is not to repeat what has been learned, but to reflect on its
significance in the students’ own lives as well as to connect it to what has been learned before.
The objective of the learning diary is to make students think themselves.
The student may choose to focus on a few key themes and those topics that he or she finds most
interesting, or alternatively, it is possible to comment on everything that has been learned.
However, it is important to have a clear narrating thread in the learning diary so that it will not be
too fragmented.
On the Climate.now course, students will write the learning diary for the duration of the course.
Under no circumstances may the learning diary be started only after the course has ended as it
requires continuous reflection and its purpose is to help students monitor the progress in their own
learning. An entry should be written in the learning diary after each section in the
Climate.now online material has been completed.
The following questions can be used to support the process of writing reflections related to the
books in the course platform:
What did I learn? What is still unclear to me? How is what I learned linked to what I have
learned before? What kind of feelings has the course evoked? What am I reflecting on and
what does the knowledge I have acquired mean to me? How is what I learned related to me
as a person, as a member of society or as an expert in my field?
However, students should not slavishly stick to answering these questions, but write about those
things that are most important regarding the book in question and their own learning.
In addition to reflection, there are also assignments to be completed in the learning diary. At least
two assignments per each section must be completed in the learning diary. The
assignments can be found under each course book of the Climate.Now -material. Please
select the assignments from different books. In total you should answer 14 assignments.
There are also general reflections in this learning diary model. First ones of them are supposed to
do in the very beginning of the course, part of then in the middle of the course and the last ones in
the end of the course. Instructions for these general reflections are in chapter 2 of this learning
diary model.
Appropriate length of answers is less than half a page of text / task. It is OK to write only a
couple of sentences to some tasks and somewhat longer to other tasks. The total length of the
learning diary should not exceed 20 pages!
At the end of the learning diary, there is also a section for recording new vocabulary that you have
come across during the course. Filling in the vocabulary is voluntary and not required to pass the
course.
Assessment
Creativity, the ability to see connections between the subjects that have been learned, and the
ability to make connections between what has been learned and one’s own life are taken into
consideration when the learning diary is assessed. The criteria for a good learning diary include
that the student:
● Examines the themes of the course from a multidisciplinary point of view
● Recognises the new knowledge that he or she has acquired and how it can be connected
to what has been learned before
● Reflects on how what has been learned relates to him or her as a person, as a member of
society or as an expert in his or her own field
● Reflects on the ethical questions and feelings evoked by what has been learned as well as
how these feelings affect his or her ability to learn and act
● Has familiarised himself or herself in depth with the assignments given on the course
● Thinks critically, questions the prevailing ways to act and think
● Thinks creatively, envisages things, demonstrates new kind of thinking

For assessment, the student selects 3-5 sections in the learning diary he or she finds best/
thinks are the most in-depth discussions. Those sections are marked clearly e.g. with red
colour. The teacher will focus on these sections, but will also verify, however, that the entire
learning diary follows the guidelines given.
Study material
In English: https://mooc.helsinki.fi/course/view.php?id=36
To be able to complete the multiple choice questions, you need to create an account to the
University of Helsinki MOOC-platform: https://mooc.helsinki.fi/login/signup.php
More about the project: www.climatenow.fi
2. GENERAL REFLECTIONS

In the beginning of the course:

Reflection on the video “Climate change around us”
Watch the photo stream video and answer the following questions:
● What does climate change mean for me?
● What thoughts does it evoke?
● What else is it connected to?
● What kind of impressions do you associate with it?

My thoughts in the beginning of the course

What questions would you like to find answers to during the course? What kind of thoughts and
feelings did the first course session evoke? What kind of objectives will you set for yourself on this
course? What will be the biggest challenges for you on this course? What can you do to prevent
these challenges from becoming too demanding?

In the middle of the course:

Carbon footprint
The average carbon footprint of a Finn is around 8,700kg CO2 per year
How much do you think your own carbon footprint is? __________
Estimate how much of your own carbon footprint the following things account for.
Food _________%
Transportation _________%
Housing _________%
Other _________%
Use the carbon footprint calculator developed by the Finnish Environment Institute SYKE to
calculate your own carbon footprint. Record the result in your learning diary. You can, for example,
take a picture of the results provided by the calculator. (PLEASE NOTE! Make a note of the results
in each section before moving on to the next one as it is not possible to retrieve them in the end.
The easiest way to do this is by taking a screen-capture of each section).
● What are the individual factors that most affect your carbon footprint?
● What surprised you about your own carbon footprint?
● Do you think that being aware of your own carbon footprint will make you change your
lifestyle? If yes, please specify how. If no, please specify why not.

Climate diet
Make a concrete plan for how you could reduce your own carbon footprint by 10% per year for the
next three years. Be realistic and consider what things you would first be prepared to compromise
on to reduce your own carbon footprint.
The limits of caring
We all do things and have habits that are detrimental to the environment and that we would still not
want to give up. What are those things that you really would not want to give up, although you
know about their harmful effect on the environment?
How much extra would you be prepared to pay to keep those things in your life?
Also discuss with your group which factors in your lifestyle are climate friendly and which are not.
What kind of values is your climate behaviour based on?

Climate change in the society

How is climate change discussed in society? What is talked about and what is not? What kind of
things are climate change and sustainability transition related to in human life and society?

Utopia
Watch the video Climate change and humanity. What kind of thoughts did the video evoke? What
is your utopia of the world in which a solution to climate change has already been found?

Climate change in my own field

Choose two interviews from section Climate change in different fields and watch them.
How is climate change apparent in my own field of study? What could be the role of my field in
finding a solution to climate change?

In the end of the course:

Final reflection
What kind of process have I had? What have I learned and experienced?

Permission questionnaire
I allow my learning diary to be used in research, and parts of the text be published without my name or
other personal details: yes / no
3. COURSE BOOKS
This part of the course diary has been divided according to the sections in the Climate.now MOOC
platform. The themes in the MOOC platform have been divided into seven sections. Each of these
sections has been divided into subthemes, i.e. books. Students must write reflections on each
Section in the learning diary. In addition to this reflective writing, TWO assignments must be
selected from each Section, from two separate Books. The extent of the assignments varies.
To make it easier to see the overall structure, the titles for each section and book have already
been listed below.

SECTION 1: Climate change – What is it about?

Book 1: Observed climate change
Book 2: The greenhouse effect
Book 3: Greenhouse gases

Reflection:
Students should reflect on what they have learned in this section here. Questions to support
reflection:
What did I learn? What is still unclear to me? How is what I learned linked to what I
have learned before? What kind of feelings has the section evoked? What am I
reflecting on and what does the knowledge I have acquired mean to me? How is what
I learned related to me as a person, as a member of society or as an expert in my
field?

Assignments:
Two of the assignments related to the section should be completed here. For example:
1.2: type the question here
A: …
3.1: type the question here
A: …

The same guidelines will also be used for all of the sections below.

SECTION 2: How the climate system works

Book 4: The carbon cycle
Book 5: Climate sensitivity and radiative forcing
Book 6: Feedback and threshold values

Reflection:
Assignments:

SECTION 3: The future of the climate

Book 7: Emission scenarios and climate models
Book 8: Changes that we can expect
Book 9: Uncertainties

SECTION 4: Impacts
Book 10: Ecosystem services
Book 11: Ecosystems and climate change
Book 12: Vulnerability of societies and climate risk
Book 13: Assessment of vulnerability

SECTION 5: Mitigation
Book 14: Introduction to mitigation of climate change
Book 15: Carbon footprint
Book 16: Climate neutral energy system
Book 17: Sustainability transition

SECTION 6: Adaptation
Book 18: What does adaptation mean?
Book 19: Adaptation measures and policy

SECTION 7: Big questions

Book 20: International climate negotiations
Book 21: Will there be enough food for everyone?
Book 22: Finland’s forests and climate change
4. VOCABULARY RELATED TO THE COURSE
During the course, you are very likely to come across words that you do not know from before.
Make a list of words that are not familiar to you and write down their definitions.