Description
This innovative 3-months online course (16 January to 7 April 2023) deals with the crucial concepts of biodiversity and climate change as well as the interaction between them. Two groups of organisms, directly affected by climate change, Herpetofauna (amphibians & reptiles) and Medicinal plants, are also presented as case studies. Prominent experts of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium, the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary and the Natural History Museum of Crete, University of Crete, Greece have developed the entire original online material and resources exclusively for the needs of the online course.
The course is innovative since it’s LMS platform has been transformed in order to follow the requirements of the Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) pedagogical methodology, which is a constructivist approach where the overall goal is for learners to build knowledge by themselves. Based on that, and although the course is an asynchronous online course, except of an introductory synchronous meeting (see below), trainers support, advice and facilitate continuously the trainees’ work. Motivation and interaction between trainees and trainers are thus ensured, while a whole learning experience between trainees is built at the end.
Trainees who will follow the course can use this learning experience as a stepping stone in order to become more competitive in finding career opportunities in science-related business, and facilitate thus their employability and entry in the labour market worldwide.
Course structure, mode of implementation and learning effort
The course: “Online training course on Biodiversity and Climate change” starts with a synchronous 3 hours online meeting, with the presence of all participants and trainers together. During this meeting, the following topics are analytically presented:
- Structure of the course
- Online tools that are going to be used
- Structure of the e-learning platform
- Trainees’ administration and support
Then MODULE 1 “Biodiversity and Climate Change”, compulsory for all the participants, follows. Analytically the themes of MODULE 1 are:
Theme 1. Introducing biodiversity
1.1 What is biodiversity?
1.2 Origin of biodiversity
1.3 Agrobiodiversity – Genetic diversity
1.4 Biodiversity hotspots
1.5 A short history of biodiversity
1.6 What is a species?
Theme 2. Exploring biodiversity
2.1 Relationship of organisms in ecosystems, ecological niche
2.2 Documenting biodiversity – scientific collation
2.3 Biodiversity patterns and processes regulating species diversity
2.4 Importance of biodiversity for humans
Theme 3. Threats to biodiversity in a changing climate
3.1 Habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation
3.2 Overexploitation of wildlife
3.3 Invasive alien species
3.4 Climate change
After completing MODULE 1 participants are asked to choose and follow one of the two case studies including two groups of organisms directly affected by climate change. Either MODULE 2a – Herpetofauna (amphibians & reptiles) or MODULE 2b – the Medicinal plants.
Analytically the themes of MODULE 2a – Herpetofauna are:
Theme 1. Origin of the Herpetofauna
1.1 Origin of the amphibians
1.2 What is a reptile?
Theme 2. Diversity of the Herpetofauna
2.1 Diversity of amphibians
2.2 Climate change in Europe
2.3 Studying diversity of amphibians and reptiles
Theme 3. Physiology and ecology of the Herpetofauna
3.1 Physiology of amphibians
3.2 Ecological adaptations of amphibians
3.3 Physiology of reptiles
3.4 Ecological adaptations of reptiles
Theme 4. Threats to the Herpetofauna
4.1 Habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation
4.2 Invasive alien species
4.3 Diseases
4.4 Overexploitation
4.5 Climate change
Theme 5. Herpetofauna and humans
5.1 Herpetofauna as source of scientific disciplines
5.2 Herpetofauna as source for future human welfare
5.3 Effect of herpetofauna on human life
5.4 Conservation of herpetofauna, organisations, citizen science
Analytically the themes of MODULE 2b – Medicinal plants are:
Theme 1. Plant diversity
1.1 How many plant species are there?
1.2 Plant and habitat diversity
Theme 2. Complexity of plant biogeography
2.1 Environmental adaptation and tolerance of plants
2.2 Dynamics in plant distribution and dispersal
2.3 Complexity of biogeography
Theme 3. Plants and climate change
3.1 Climate changes and postglacial migration of plants
3.2 Plant responses to climate change
Theme 4. Plants as source for the future
4.1 Everyday uses of plants
4.2 Fuel from plants
4.3 Food from plants
4.4 Industrial uses of plants
4.5 Medicinal plants. Past, present and future.
Theme 5: Threatening factors of plant diversity
5.1 Plants in the Anthropocene
5.2 Threats to plant diversity
5.3 Herbs vs nature conservation
Trainees will need approximately 50 hours of learning effort for MODULE 1 and 50 hours for either MODULE 2a or MODULE 2b (100 hours in total).
Trainers:
Dr Gergely Babocsay, Herpetologist, Curator of Vertebrate Zoology, Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary
Manolis Avramakis, Botanist, Senior researcher, Curator of Herbarium, Natural History Museum of Crete, University of Crete, Greece
Dr Iasmi Stathi, Biologist, Senior researcher, Education & Training Lab, Natural History Museum of Crete, University of Crete, Greece
Athanasia Margetousaki MSc, Pedagogist, Education & Training Lab, Natural History Museum of Crete, University of Crete, Greece
Platform hosting & Support: Center of Infrastructure Technology Services Informatics & Communications, CITSIC, University of Crete, Greece, https://ict.uoc.gr/index.php/en/.
Dates of Training period
3 months: 16 January to 7 April 2023
Target audience
- Students (undergraduates, MSc, PhD, postdocs)
- Secondary education science teachers
- Instructors of non-formal education
- Collection technicians in Natural History Museums, Museums and Science Centers, Botanical Gardens, NGOs for environmental issues
- Decision makers in management and protection of environment and biodiversity in public and private bodies
- Professionals such as biologists, rangers and managers of wildlife conservation in national parks, protected areas
- Citizens’ organizations in the field of biodiversity conservation
- Unemployed of the above categories
- Others / Other stakeholders interested on the subject
Registration deadline
15 December 2022
Fee
120 euros
Payment of fees – Registration procedure
Registration is free.
Registrations will be on a first-come, first-served basis. From the list of registrants, the first 100 will be notified to pay the fee in order their registration to be finalized.
Participant quota (min and max number of trainees)
Min 50 – Max 100 trainees
Course’s language
English
Certifications provided
- Certificate of Attendance by CETAF DEST with 5 ECVET Units (European Credit system for Vocational Education and Training)
- Certificate by CETAF DEST according to Europass Certificate Supplement
Technology requirements and personal equipment
This online course requires a computer or a laptop, as well as an internet connection to gain access to the platform.
After completing the online course trainees should have gained:
Cognitive skills
- understand the concepts of “biodiversity” and “climate change”
- understand and identify the effects of biodiversity reduction and the climate crisis
- observe how the above two concepts are related to each other
- know that there are species that are threatened or endangered due to human activities
- get familiar to Herpetofauna (amphibians & reptiles) and/or Medicinal plants
- investigate how Herpetofauna and Medicinal plants are affected by climate change
- understand the value of Natural History Collections, especially in solving environmental problems
- know the characteristics and requirements of jobs related to the management of environmental parameters
- propose actions for the protection and preservation of the environment
- become familiar with the use of ICT through the search for information, solving problems or synthesizing knowledge following the methodology of exploratory learning
Psychomotor skills gained
- take initiatives on how to approach environmental issues
- take responsibility for a self-study process
- select the most appropriate and reliable information from that available on the internet, which will substantiate their proposals for the solution of the specific environmental problems
- describe a problem clearly, report it to the group and ask the appropriate questions to investigate it
Behaviors / Attitudes
- enhance the development of collaboration, teamwork, critical thinking, socialization, observation and environmental awareness
- become familiar with the scientific way of thinking, i.e. how to approach a scientific issue, how to research, observe and come to conclusions and solutions, based on scientific data.
- Cultivate complex forms of thinking, such as analyzing, synthesizing and understanding information, and producing new
More details: dest@cetaf.org
Registration
Registration has closed on 15th December 2022