What you will study
Block 1: Complexity and challenges
This introductory block sets the scene for your learning journey. You’ll examine the complex situations and difficult decisions environmental managers face during the current climate and biodiversity crises, and explore responses to environmental challenges at the local level. We’ll introduce you to the essential skill sets and capabilities environmental managers need to address these challenging and often emotive situations.
Block 2: Human, citizen, manager
This block focuses on individual perspectives and how you might approach environmental management as a human, citizen and manager. You’ll explore human responses to our environmental impact and our actions as global citizens in addressing these impacts. To help you appreciate different perspectives, you’ll critically question norms, practices and opinions while reflecting on your own values, perceptions and actions. You’ll learn how values influence human interactions and why individuals might resist change despite overwhelming evidence change is critical.
Block 3: Organisations
In this block, you’ll examine environmental management at the organisational level. Large-scale sustainability challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss require organisations to think, plan and take action over decades or even centuries. Through examples like nuclear waste management and biodiversity enhancement schemes, you’ll discover how organisations are planning for the long term, while also developing skills to synthesise and evaluate data that supports effective decision-making.
Block 4: Communities
Next, you’ll consider environmental management at the community level, examining how different communities – geographical, interest-based and virtual – approach environmental challenges. Through case studies focused on sustainability issues, including social equity, you’ll develop your understanding, skills and capabilities in designing effective processes for community engagement and participation.
Block 5: Pathways and practice
This concluding block brings together everything you’ve learned throughout the module. You’ll have the opportunity to reflect on your learning journey and take stock of the sustainability competencies you’ve developed. You’ll also reflect on using appropriate language and visual aids to make compelling cases for environmental action to different audiences.
You will learn
- Key challenges and trends in contemporary environmental management.
- The potential of systems thinking approaches to understand complex situations and propose environmental management outcomes.
- How to reflect on the relationship between values and actions in environmental management, and how to negotiate different perspectives.
- How to manage, evaluate and synthesise data across different sources, and communicate this to influence decision-making.
- How to effectively communicate with different audiences about environmental management situations.
Vocational relevance
You’ll develop competencies for sustainability applicable across a breadth of vocational settings, broadly split over three themes:
- negotiating difference
- peer assessment and engaging with the views of others
- designing social learning processes.
By completing a series of activities, you’ll also have the chance to earn two Digital Badges in the following areas:
- sustainability literacy
- scientific report writing.
Entry
There are no formal entry requirements for this module.
At The Open University, we believe education should be open to all, so we provide high-quality university education to anyone who wishes to realise their ambitions and fulfil their potential.
Even though there are no entry requirements, a basic understanding of environmental issues and social and environmental data will be beneficial.
Preparatory work
We recommend first completing the following modules:
Teaching and assessment
Support from your tutor
Throughout your module studies, you’ll get help and support from your assigned module tutor.
They’ll help you by:
- marking your assignments and providing detailed feedback for you to improve
- guiding you to additional learning resources
- providing individual guidance, whether that’s for general study skills or specific module content
- facilitating online discussions between your fellow students in the dedicated module and tutor group forums.
Module tutors also run online tutorials throughout the module. Where possible, recordings of online tutorials will be made available to students. While these tutorials won’t be compulsory for you to complete the module, you’re strongly encouraged to take part.
Assessment
The assessment details for this module can be found in the facts box.