GEO-ICTs for Good: a Mooc on Giscience for Climate Justice

The last two decades have seen the development and diffusion of new technologies that can help in managing geographic information. This has led to a proliferation of grassroots processes for exploring, creating and sharing geographical data as a way for citizens to take part in decision making in different kinds of processes. However, these ongoing processes are facing technological, cognitive and economic barriers. Universities with the use of open-source geospatial information and communication technologies (Geo-ICTs) should be the primary actors in supporting students and citizens in developing their own spatial thinking and abilities in a more effective and engaging way. In this framework, the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on Climate Justice (University of Padova) is developing the massive open online course (MOOC) ‘GIScience for Climate Justice’, here with the use of open-source and freeware Geo-ICTs that will be freely available for all before the end of 2022. By completing the MOOC, students will learn how to increase their knowledge of climate change and climate justice issues autonomously. Practical activities will improve their skills in obtaining and using geodata and information produced by European institutions, which can lead to them producing and sharing their own data and preparing and managing collaborative projects for sustainability and environmental monitoring. In this contribution, the theoretical background and entire methodology for the preparation and dissemination of the MOOC are presented and discussed, with the aim of disseminating and sharing this experience to actors interested in developing similar activities of using Geo-ICTs for good.