Digital learning, face-to-face learning and climate change

Debates about digital learning, face-to-face learning and blended learning often focus on their effectiveness in achieving a few core educational outcomes. The cost or convenience of using different methods to achieve certain outcomes have increasingly come into the educational framework over the past two decades. However, only rarely do educators or learners consider the climate footprint of their various activities. This is an important shortcoming, as all learning activities can contribute to our overall climate footprint. Providers of education should do their best to minimise the carbon footprint associated with their learning. But learners also have responsibility to ensure that how they access learning is also associated with minimal environmental cost. Both providers and learners should focus on activities that are likely to have the greatest impact. This is relevant both to face-to-face education and digital learning.