"EE in cyberspace, why not?" teaching, learning and researching tertiary pre-service and in-service teacher environmental education online

Abstract

Information communication technologies (ICTs) have the potential to enable intending and in-service teachers in regional, rural and remote regions greater access to tertiary education. This paper describes how a fourth year environmental education subject has been successfully delivered wholly online for several years and how pre-service and in-service teachers have responded to learning through an online platform. Research indicates the necessity to create a social learning space in cyberspace to support learning; as well as the importance of building flexible learning opportunities and offline assessment tasks to generate meaningful learning experiences related to local places. Teaching environmental education online may initially create the dilemma of how to engage meaningfully with place-based learning through the no-place of cyberspace. However, carefully designed, online learning can and does support positive learning outcomes. While there are limitations to online study, well-conceived, web-based delivery is certainly no barrier to teaching and learning environmental education in the tertiary sector.