St Ivo Geography Department Online Portal
     “Geography is the subject which holds the key to our future” - Michael Palin

Head of Department - Mr R Chambers

Preparing for University Geography

Are you going onto study Geography at university in September?

Once you have had a place confirmed, you can start to look at the modules offered on your course and follow up reading lists given by your university. In the meantime, however, here are a list of potential links to help you read around geographical issues and topics in preparation for developing your broader geographical knowledge to support your undergraduate studies.

Podcasts

• Ask the Geographer Podcasts (Royal Geographical Society)
• Costing the Earth- some great podcasts here to pick from on a wide variety of geographical issues. (many topics including climate change, carbon, urban greening, deforestation, alternative powers, plastics (etc)
• The Documentary podcast - from the BBC these podcasts investigate global developments issues and affairs.
• The Inquiry - BBC podcasts exploring the trends, forces and ideas shaping the world beyond the headlines.
• From our own Correspondent - BBC content - with BBC correspondents, journalists etc. looking at the stories behind the headlines.  
• Podcasts from Oxford University School of Geography and the Environment

Websites / Articles

• The Conversation – a superb website for keeping uptodate with the latest understanding and research across a whole range of topics – written in short, concise easy to read articles which broaden and deepen knowledge and understanding

• Strategic Intelligence – World Economic Forum – explore and monitor the issues and forces driving transformational change across economies, industries and global issues.

• Geographical Magazine - lots of great online articles on a range of geographical issues.

• The National Geographic – articles and videos on many of the latest geographical issues from around the world
  
  
• Gresham College Lectures - some great Geographical Lectures on a range of Geographcial Issues.

TED TALKS

SOME RECOMMENDED TALKS:

• How megacities are changing the map of the world (Parag Khanna) – explores how economic ties/ digital connectivity are more important than geographical constraints such as national borders.

• For more wonder, rewild the world (George Monbiot) – presents the case for rewilding ecosystems (based on the reintroduction of Wolves in Yellowstone National Park case study)
  
  
• Maps that show us who was are (not just where we are) (Danny Dorling) – using cartograms of maps contorted by the type of data they show

• The danger of a single story (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) – an interesting exploration of how misunderstandings are generated – looking at how impressionable we are when confronted with a single story about another country.

• Social maps that reveal a city’s intersections – and separations (Dave Troy) – looks at what we can learn about cities by looking at what people share online.

TED TALK COLLECTIONS:

• A collection of TED Talks on the topic of Climate Change
• A collection of TED talks on the topic of Global Development
• A collection of TED Talks on Natural Disasters
• A collection of TED talks on Inequality
• A collection of TED talks on Global Issues
• A collection of TED talks on Environment
• A collection of TED talks on Cities
  
  

Books

There is a detailed Geography Reading list from the Geographical Association here on possible books that you could have a look  at. You can also often find specific Reading Lists for your course on University Department websites.

Developing Referencing Skills

One of the key skills you will need to use at university is the ability to reference properly. There is a useful video clip on Havard Referencing here to help you get the basics sorted!

MOOCS (Massive Open Online Courses)

These are free online courses available for anyone to enrol. They usually run over a period of weeks and you can fit them into the time you want - they are often flexible learning including videos, powerpoints etc.

Three of the main websites offering MOOCS are:

Use the search engines and topic areas on these sites to find courses you might be interested in.

• Future Learn https://www.futurelearn.com/
• edX Courses https://www.edx.org/course
• Open Learning – Free learning from Open University https://www.open.edu/openlearn/

Examples of MOOCs with a Geographical Theme (search the links above for others in areas you are particularly interested in).

GIS:

• Cartography - this involves using ArcGIS and might be a great introduction to GIS to give foundation for work at university.
  
  

Sustainable Development:

• Sustainable Development: Solutions and Trends
• Achieving Sustainable Development
  
  

Climate Change:

• Global Water Use and Climate Change
• Causes of Climate Change
• Climate Change Solutions
  
  

Earth Sciences  / Natural Hazards

• Introduction to deep earth science
• Natural Disasters
• Earthquake Seismology
• Geo-Science – the earth and its resources
• Extreme Geological Events
• Monitoring Volcanoes and Magma Movements

See also these general links for “Developing as a Geographer” which include a further list of books and Documentaries / Films that have excellent geographical value.