Why C-Change and why the Cryosphere?

Abstract As a partner in the C-Change in GEES project the Geography Department at the University of Exeter contributed a virtual field course focusing on the Cryposphere. There were a number of challenges faced when repurposing the virtual field course to ensure the resource contained no copyright/IPR infringments. The obvious solution was to draw on the vast amount of photographs, film footage and experience generated by the staff during numerous trips to far flung places. The choice of the crysophere was also based on the fact that it was an area very few of us would ever get the chance to experience as a student or after graduation. The virtual field course was split into several components focusing on Antarctica, Svalbard and Greenland from both a Physical and Human geographical viewpoint to provide the maximum appeal to the GEES community. The decision to repurpose our own material worked to a point but the issues of producing resources that were copyright cleared still materialised. Whilst the case studies were easy to construct it was the ‘linking’ text and diagrams that caused the biggest issue. In order to achieve a fully open resource we had to draw upon the departmental drawing office; an increasingly rare resource across the GEES community. This article provides an account of the processes we undertook to make an existing virtual field course suitable to be used as an open educational resource. Exeter University’s participation in the C-Change project was driven by a number of factors. OER is a new and exciting concept in higher education; as such participating in this project was a good opportunity to get involved from the start. It offered a chance to learn about IPR and copyright issues in relation to teaching materials. This is useful from a personal perspective but is also helpful in that this expertise can then be passed on to colleagues. From an institutional point of view, developing OER was an obvious way of showcasing staff research interests in the School, with potential benefits for recruitment of undergraduate and postgraduate students. Clearly, this is not without risk, should the resources fail to come up to scratch. The focus on the Cryosphere was chosen in part to reflect the research interests of the contributing staff and the wealth of material they possessed. It is a popular topic with the students at Exeter and aspects of the Cryosphere are covered in both physical and human geography modules across levels 1 to 4. It is also an area of the world few students will get the chance to visit but is a topic that lies at the heart of the climate change debate.