OCEANS OF CHANGE: AN UPPER-DIVISION GE DISTANCE EDUCATION COURSE CONNECTING GLOBAL CHANGE, FISHERIES, AND FOSSIL FUELS

Given our ever-increasing impact on the global ocean system, this upper-division fully-online general-education course focuses on three oceanographic issues commonly encountered in the popular media and of broad socioeconomic relevance:

1. How our burning of fossil fuels is warming and acidifying the ocean
2. How our appetites are driving fisheries depletion and aquaculture development
3. How our demand for energy is met through sometimes risky offshore petroleum exploration

Each issue is explored primarily from a scientific perspective, and secondarily from economic, social, and political perspectives. Furthermore, the scientific principles underlying each issue serve as a foundation for exploring subsequent issues; for example, a general model of global ocean-atmosphere circulation (first issue) is built upon to understand why many coastal regions historically had such abundant fish populations (second issue) as well as the ancient environmental conditions that favored the burial of organic carbon and thereby petroleum formation (third issue). In addition, all three issues are examined as potential manifestations of the “tragedy of the commons” and “shifting baselines” – two concepts that are introduced at the start of the course.

Operationally, the course is managed through Blackboard and divided into a series of modules ala Smith (2009). The first item in each module is the learning guide, essentially a microsyllabus providing an explicit statement of learning outcomes and schedule of live sessions and module activities. Live sessions are conducted using the Wimba web-conferencing system, and students are strongly encouraged, but not required, to attend. Module activities include articles, videos, websites, etc., with actionable content for each activity (e.g., specific directions, questions, etc.) contained within the learning guide. While these activities are not graded, they complement coverage in Wimba sessions and are fair-game on a relatively “low-stakes” quiz that concludes each module. “Higher stakes” mid-term and final exams consist of two parts: a “superquiz” and set of “microessays”. These higher-stakes exams are constructed under the assumption that students can and will Google, and therefore focus on situational questions that operate at higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.