3.2 Summary

Part 3 has given you an opportunity as a lecturer to explore some of the environmental impacts associated with teaching and learning activities in higher education, using Carbon Calculator tools to assess the impacts associated with course-related activities in higher education.

You have considered the key sources of carbon impacts, and how these impacts could be reduced by changing some aspects of teaching and learning activities, and use of ICT devices and materials.

Your explorations of the Carbon Calculator tools have given you an opportunity to consider the effect of making a large number of changes to teaching and learning activities, and to explore the consequences and trade-offs between different course-related activities.

Exploration of the Carbon Calculator for Lecturers shows that there are scale effects associated with larger numbers of students benefitting from a planned teaching, learning and assessment provision, resulting with carbon reductions per student.

Both Carbon Calculator tools are available to help with data collection on the carbon impacts associated with your course. This helps to begin to plan changes to the design of your teaching and learning provision to achieve carbon reductions associated with your own and your student’s activities.

The actions of individuals to reduce carbon emissions are limited by the way that teaching and learning is organised and provided by your HE institution. Part 4 considers the environmental impacts of different higher education systems and teaching models promoted within institutions.