A Participatory Curriculum Approach to ICT-Enabled Education for Sustainability in Higher Education (original) (raw)

Education for sustainability in university studies: a model for reorienting the curriculum

British Educational Research Journal, 2008

A decisive factor for achieving a culture of sustainability is university training for future professionals. The aim of this article is to bring new elements to the process of reorienting university studies towards sustainability. Presented here is the ACES model (Curriculum Greening of Higher Education, acronym in Spanish), which is the result of a project involving a network of 11 European and Latin American universities. The methodology of the project is based on participatory action research. The ACES model is defined by 10 characteristics, detailed in this article, which can orientate a diagnosis of the level of curriculum greening and the design and application of the strategies and actions in order to facilitate incorporating the sustainability dimension in higher education. The potentialities and limitations found are also discussed. The ACES model has started a process for reorienting higher education studies towards sustainability.

Transforming University Curricula towards Sustainability

Practice, Progress, and Proficiency in Sustainability, 2014

The UNESCO Chair ICT in Education for Sustainable Development in cooperation with the RCE Crete (Regional Centre of Expertise) on Education for Sustainable Development responding to the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD 2005-2014) took the initiative to establish a North-South Network for embedding sustainability in higher education institutions. A Consortium with 12 universities (six from Europe and six from Middle East) led by the UNESCO Chair and the RCE Crete at the University of Crete prepared a proposal submitted to the Tempus-European Commission programme for funding. The RUCAS (Reorient University Curricula to address Sustainability) project, studied in this chapter, has initiated various activities in the partner countries' institutions, which seem to exert significant curricular changes. The changes include the revision of courses, building the appropriate infrastructure, the development of an online community of practice and the RUCAS Toolkit that are being used as drivers for reorienting university curricula to address sustainability. As a result, a growing number of academics in the partner institutions are concerned with the current sustainability crisis and claim for a transformative shift in what they teach and how teaching is practiced. ORGANIZATION BACKGROUND The RUCAS project is initiated by the RUCAS Consortium of 12 Universities and three NGOs financially supported by the European Commission for a three-year period (2010-13) and it is coordinated by the

Barriers in restructuring university curriculum for a sustainable future

In recent years, increasing awareness about resource depletion and the need created for its preservation have emphasized the concept of Sustainable Development (SD) across the globe. Although sustainable development became famous after the Brundtland Commission report 1987, many higher educational institutions in the world have not yet sufficiently introduced SD to their systems. The purpose of the study is to identify and validate the barriers faced in incorporating sustainability in the curricula content of various higher education courses in the context of Indian educational institutions, globally acclaimed for their standard of education. The paper also presents solutions developed by analyzing the survey instrument as suggested by the respondents to overcome the barriers that may arise in the process of curriculum change.

A systemic approach to incorporate sustainability into university courses and curricula

Journal of Cleaner Production, 2006

This article is based on an analysis of Lund University that took place during the summer and autumn of 2004 (available for download at www.iiiee.lu.se, click library and publications). The university had experienced a loss of momentum in their progress regarding environmental issues. The purpose of the study was to identify barriers to including sustainability-related content throughout Lund University curricula,

How to integrate sustainability teaching and learning in Higher Education Institutions? From context to action for transformation towards SDGs implementation: a literature review

2020

Given the importance HEIs have in our society and considering the number of students, teaching staff as well as administrative and management staff they host every day, it becomes fundamental to ensure that sustainability is not only taught but also practiced within campuses. This was the fundamental reason for building a strategic partnership across four European universities and one international Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) to set up the ERASMUS+ EUSTEPs project-Enhancing Universities' Sustainability Teaching and Practices through Ecological Footprint-in order to undertake both theoretical and practical activities to develop a new generation of sustainable citizens. With the inclusion of the Ecological Footprint (EF) concept and several educational tools and approaches, the project aims to educate students and the wider university community on the sustainability implications of personal behaviour, and to enhance new professional expertise in the society and in the future labour market. The role that Ecological Footprint can have in communicating the scale and significance of humanity's overuse of the planet's natural resources in simple and powerful terms, has long been acknowledged and this project thus intends to leverage on that and deliver on the following four key objectives: 1) to develop interactive teaching modules, materials and tools for the academic community to become Footprint ambassadors; 2) to build a Massive Open On-line Course made available through the project webplatform to scale-up project outcomes and enlarge the target audiences; 3) to involve all members of the university community in the co-development of an online, freely available University Footprint calculator about the environmental pressure of universities; and 4) to initiate a process of campuses greening, thus reducing their resource demand.

An Action Research Project for Embedding Education for Sustainable Development in a University Curriculum: Processes and Prospects

Integrative Approaches to Sustainable Development at University Level. World Sustainability Series, 2015

Research on sustainable development in higher education has tended to focus on environmental management of university estates and operations, and case studies and examples of good practice, without presenting the coherent theoretical or methodological approaches required to look at the change processes of universities seeking to embed sustainable development. Although the value and contribution of university initiatives has been articulated, little holistic and structural transformation of universities has been achieved so far. This paper presents an action research project undertaken at the University of Southampton to develop an organisational learning model to embed Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) within the undergraduate curriculum. An action research approach guided by participatory and emancipatory approaches was used. The researcher aimed to learn from real practice through acting as a facilitator for curriculum development in ESD within an interdisciplinary group of academic staff members. A critical friend position was acquired within a community of practice to implement a programme that attempted to embed sustainable development within the student experience. This paper presents the qualitative methodology used in this project, providing a detailed overview of its research methods, processes and future prospects, which can inform other higher education institutions in their journey to embed ESD holistically.

Sustainability in Higher Education

SAGE Open, 2016

Sustainability describes how a system remains diverse and productive; this is the potential for long-term maintenance of well-being having ecological, economic, political, and cultural dimensions. Education for sustainable development (ESD) emphasizes on including the key sustainable development issues into teaching and learning, that is, climate change, disaster risk reduction, biodiversity, poverty reduction, and sustainable consumption. This effort requires effective pedagogy to ensure a participatory teaching and learning method that will motivate and empower future leaders to ensure sustainability in their social systems. Malaysia has incorporated the principles of Agenda 21 as one of the important sustainable development documents into its national planning process. However, the effectiveness of these teaching–learning programs, and their effective pedagogical approaches and endpoints are not satisfactorily ensured. Therefore, at first, this article reviews the existing variou...

Education for Sustainability

Futures of Education, Culture and Nature - Learning to Become, 2022

This paper proposes an approach to teaching and learning that reflects the idea that to undergo systemic change we need to learn from and with living systems. I reflect on two projects that illustrate small steps towards this emergent practice and draw upon theories that may help to frame this ecological approach. Drawing these frameworks and design education projects together helps to understand education for sustainability as embedded in productive learning relationships, involving thinking reflectively on our messages and actions. According to the UNESCO Policy Brief (2018) Education is a crucial element of a sustainable development agenda and needs to be holistic and transformational. These practices of taking education outside of the classroom are illustrated through examples of project-based learning in a Communication Design degree at Otago Polytechnic in Dunedin New Zealand in partnership with local environmental groups, and aim to be both holistic and potentially transforma...

ICTs as Transformative Enabling Tools in Education for Sustainable Development 7.1 Basic Education: Trends in Light of the Global Sustainability Crisis

ICTs show an accelerated development both in terms of innovation and proliferation across all social, professional and educational domains. This generates a demand for new educational approaches and pedagogies that can foster transformative learning and the reorientation of educational curricula to address sustainable development. This Chapter discusses ICTs potential as transformative tools in teaching and learning with the focus placed on sustainability education. It is shown that ICTs offer opportunities for educators, but there is need for professional development as perspective transformation, a process whereby prospective teachers critically examine their beliefs, assumptions, values and personal theories as they are learning technologies and acquire new knowledge and experience.