ARUA-CD WORKSHOP ON CLIMATE CHANGE CURRICULA FOR LECTURERS IN AFRICA

The field of climate change is relatively recent and changing rapidly. Developments in climate science and impacts research, new findings on the intersection of climate change with various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), changes in how we conceptualise climate change and development, and shifts in the policy landscape - all pose challenges for lecturers to keep the content of their curricula up to date. New teaching tools and approaches are emerging as lecturers grapple with these and other challenges in higher education across Africa. The African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) Centre of Excellence in Climate and Development (ARUA-CD) was awarded funds through UKRI for Strengthening Projects and Networks (SPAN). Part of this award aims to build the capacity of lecturers to review their climate change Masters curricula and incorporate new developments in climate change research and curriculum innovation.

WORKSHOP SERIES

This three-part series of workshops will support lecturers with reviewing their curricula and keeping it up to date in terms of content and the teaching approaches. These workshops are intended to support lecturers to learn from one another’s experiences of teaching climate change and provide tools to review climate change curricula. Reviewing and updating curricula can either happen continuously, or through an intensive once-off or regular review.

OBJECTIVES

• Equip lecturers with the tools for reviewing their Masters curriculum and keeping it up to date in the rapidly changing field of climate change and the SDGs.

• Support lecturers to return to their institutions and run curriculum review processes, whether through continuous or once-off full review.

• Collate lessons learnt from curriculum review processes and produce an output (such as a guide for staying up to date in climate change curricula in Africa).

FORMAT

PART ONE: An online workshop will be convened over four days from Thursday 27 May to Tuesday 1 June (i.e. 27 May, 28 May, 31 May and 1 June) with ±30 lecturers from southern, west and east Africa. This workshop will introduce key tools and concepts for reviewing and updating climate change Masters curricula in Africa.

PART TWO: Participating lecturers will convene smaller workshops in their own institutions to review and update their own curricula according to their own needs. These workshops may include academics from other institutions virtually or in-person.

PART THREE: A final full-team workshop will reconvene the original group of lecturers to share the outcomes and reflections from their curriculum review processes (online on 29 and 30 September 2021).