scholarly journals Education for Sustainability: Vision and Action of Higher Education for Sustainable Consumption

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 282
Author(s):  
Marwa Biltagy
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Sustainable Consumption ◽  
Sustainability Education ◽  
Education For Sustainability ◽  
Learning Society ◽  
Innovative Strategies ◽  
Participatory Learning ◽  
Social And Economic Development ◽  
Sustainability Challenges

<p>This paper provides the context around why transformative learning and deeper engagement in sustainability issues is important. The way of learning is critical in promoting the skills and motivation needed for sustainability challenges. Sustainability education should be included much more than other knowledge acquisition i.e. integrating a transformative, participatory learning process that matches up behavior with knowledge. This paper focuses on how higher education institutions can promote sustainable consumption. Higher education has an important role to play concerning education for sustainable consumption and the construction of a learning society. The results include innovative strategies to change curricula; to shape public opinion and national policies for sustainability; to make sure that research serves the needs of social and economic development that is sustainable and to enable students to develop their knowledge, values and skills that society will need for real progress towards sustainable consumption.</p>

The wheel of fortune as a novel support for constructive alignment and transformative sustainability learning in higher education

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Noy ◽  
Teresa Capetola ◽  
Rebecca Patrick
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Education For Sustainability ◽  
Student Experiences ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Constructive Alignment ◽  
Common Framework ◽  
Changing Times

Purpose Education for Sustainability in Higher Education (ESHE) sits within and across disciplinary settings that share the need for a framework that provides a basis for pedagogy, assessment and learning outcomes (Kalsoom, 2019). ESHE strives to create transformative learning spaces that help students gain the knowledge and skills they need to understand and contribute to shaping a world based on communities living within the limits of earth’s resources. This paper aims to offer a novel solution to the challenge of teaching students from different disciplines struggling with the complexity of sustainability. Design/methodology/approach The paper explores the development of an interdisciplinary subject designed for undergraduate students from four faculties. It presents a case study of pedagogy that moves away from three pillars/concentric circles approaches towards practices based in systems thinking and interactive transformative learning. It describes the iterative process of developing and implementing an infographic: the “Sustainability Wheel of Fortune” (Wheel), to support constructive alignment of content, assessment tasks and learning outcomes. Findings The Wheel provides a holistic, interconnected and dynamic focus for framing content and teaching. The pedagogy aligns with sustainability competencies, builds in flexibility in response to changing times and student experiences and provides teachers and students with a common framework for interrogating the possibilities for sustainable futures. Originality/value The Wheel is a novel learning tool for contemporary sustainability education. It captures key elements of approaches to and concepts about sustainability, visually reinforces the idea of a holistic interconnected approach and provides a framework that supports the constructive pedagogy of an interdisciplinary sustainability subject.

scholarly journals Teaching sustainable development in higher education

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathy Howlett ◽  
Jo-Anne Ferreira ◽  
Jessica Blomfield
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Reflective Thinking ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Course Evaluations ◽  
Education For Sustainability ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Pedagogical Practice ◽  
Content Type

Purpose This paper aims to argue that substantive changes are required in both curricula and pedagogical practice in higher education institutions to challenge dominant epistemologies and discourses and to unsettle current ways of thinking about, and acting in relation to, the environment. Central to such a shift, it is argued, is the need for higher education curricula to be interdisciplinary and for pedagogical practices to work to build capacities in students for critical and reflective thinking. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, a case study of our reflections is offered on a subject designed to promote capacities in students for critical and reflective thinking via an interdisciplinary approach. The paper uses data from student reflective essays and student course evaluations to make an argument for the success of this approach. Findings Genuine transformative learning can occur within a constructivist informed pedagogical approach to teaching for sustainability. Research limitations/implications Research implications are that genuine transformation can occur in students’ thinking processes (which the paper argues is critical for effective education in sustainability) with appropriately designed courses in higher education. Practical implications More effective environmental actors and thinkers, who can critically engage with the complexity of environmental problems. Social implications Social implications include a more effective and socially just higher education for sustainability Originality/value The authors know of no other narrative that addresses attempts to educate for sustainability using this approach.

Art and higher education for environmental sustainability: a matter of emergence?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Falk Heinrich ◽  
Lone Kørnøv
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Sustainability Science ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Education For Sustainability ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Sustainability Challenges

Purpose This study aims to contribute to the exploration of inter-disciplinary approaches in higher education for sustainability. It is a reflection on a case study linking students in the arts and sustainability science, through which the inter-disciplinary and problem-solving processes for solving a concrete sustainability challenge were explored. Design/methodology/approach The case study featured a workshop with students from two educational programmes at Aalborg University, namely, Art and Technology and Environmental Management and Sustainability Science, the latter being an engineering programme and the former part of the humanities. Experience evaluation was based on participant observation, written feedback and the workshop facilitators’ post-event reflections. Data analysis was based on multi-grounded theory, dialectically combining empirical data (through open coding) with relevant emergence theories. Notions of emergence were chosen because the supposed benefit of inter-disciplinarity is the emergence of novel solutions to complex problems. The study investigates the concrete conditions of emergence in educational inter-disciplinary settings. Findings The workshop led to a successful experience, bringing an art-based approach together with sustainability science for arriving at solutions that neither of the two would have arrived at separately. Based on participant experiences and realisations, five “emergence concepts” are suggested as supportive learning criteria and conditions, namely, “knowledge expansion”, “complementarity”, “disciplinary self-reflection”, “change of practice” and “play”. Originality/value The findings and emergence concepts can be an inspiration for creating an effective learning environment supporting the emergence of different forms of knowledge and solution concepts for solving sustainability challenges.

Student-Facilitators as University Tutors: An Effective Approach to Sustainability Education

2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Sloan ◽  
Federico Davila ◽  
Eleanor Malbon
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Learning ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Sustainability Education ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
National University ◽  
Collective Experience ◽  
Sustainability Challenges

AbstractHigher education institutions are considered by many to be pivotal in shaping the next generation of thinkers and practitioners required to further work towards addressing the sustainability challenges faced by contemporary societies. The extent to which higher education has embraced this responsibility is debateable. Notwithstanding, this article reports upon our experience as three students employed as tutors in teaching sustainability to our undergraduate counterparts. Drawing upon our collective experience as both students and tutors within The Fenner School of Environment and Society of the Australian National University, we explore what makes student-facilitators part of an effective approach for sustainability education. Through this process, we describe some key practices that student-facilitators apply and which contribute to students’ understandings of sustainability. These key practices are: conceptualising what a tutorial should be; taking the position as a facilitator of discussion; using game-based activities; and the role that student-facilitators play in a community of social learning at the Fenner School. We conclude that the incorporation of student-facilitators in the teaching and learning of sustainability play a unique and significant role that should be valued, fostered and supported in higher education.

Effective Implementation of Sustainability Education in Higher Education Settings via Transformative Learning Approach

2020 ◽  
pp. 230-251
Author(s):  
Sadaf Taimur ◽  
Motoharu Onuki
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
Sustainability Education ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
Effective Implementation ◽  
The Right

In this chapter, the importance of equipping educators with transformative learning approach to implement sustainability education in higher education settings has been discussed. The chapter talks about sustainability education as a way to achieve sustainable development and transformative learning approach to implement sustainability education effectively in higher education settings. The entry discusses the literature introducing the prominent concepts and ideas for transformative learning approach and establishes the importance of providing educators with the right pedagogy for effective implementation of sustainability education, in higher education settings, using transformative learning approach. In the final section, the authors conceptualized a framework, based on literature review, highlighting the learning experiences and the pedagogies required to bring transformative learning approach to practice in the context of sustainability education in higher education settings.

scholarly journals Engineers Changing the World: Education for Sustainability in Romanian Technical Universities—An Empirical Web-Based Content Analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1983 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lidia Alexa ◽  
Veronica Maier ◽  
Anca Șerban ◽  
Razvan Craciunescu
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Sustainability Education ◽  
Standard Of Living ◽  
Education For Sustainability ◽  
Empirical Content ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Significant Challenge ◽  
The World

Without a doubt, we are living in interesting times, characterized by both continuous economic development and improved standard of living, but also uncertainty, increased pollution, and environmental degradation, which means that, now, more than ever, global and consistent action is needed in order to create a more sustainable future. In this context, education in general and higher education in particular, face both, a significant challenge and a substantial role due to their formative function both in terms of mindset and practical tools. The main objective of our research was to explore the way technical universities in Romania have integrated into their curricula courses that aim at shaping sustainability competencies in engineering students. The study was carried out based on an exploratory empirical content analysis of the technical universities’ curricula, in order to identify the courses, including sustainable development (SD)-related topics. The analysis covered 255 bachelor programs and 394 master programs with a total of 25,920 courses, both mandatory and optional. The results revealed that there are differences in approaching sustainability education between the universities and also faculties within the universities included in the sample, revealing a rather siloed approach.

Adaptive education applied to higher education for sustainability

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 1111-1130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison Earl ◽  
Robert VanWynsberghe ◽  
Pierre Walter ◽  
Timothy Straka
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Real World ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Education Programme ◽  
Education For Sustainability ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Interpretive Case Study ◽  
Real World Learning ◽  
Sustainability Challenges

Purpose This paper aims to present an interpretive case study in education for sustainability (EfS) that applies VanWynsberghe and Herman’s (2015, 2016) adaptive education as pedagogy. Dewey’s theory of behaviour change is applied to educative experiences based on habit disruption and real-world learning, leading to creativity in the formation of new habits. The programme presented inverts dominant conceptions of knowledge to design innovative sustainability pedagogy. Instead knowledge resides alongside experience, cases, intuition, advice, experimentation and dialogue in the individual and collective effort to address daily sustainability challenges. Design/methodology/approach The paper reports on the outcomes of an interpretive case study (Merriam, 1998) of a higher education programme in sustainability pedagogy. It presents a series of reflections by instructors and participants in discussing the programme’s relationship with the core themes of habit, disruption, creative action and dialogue framed within the five features of adaptive education: stakeholders, real-world learning, off campus, transdisciplinarity and non-traditional rewards. Findings Through this examination, the authors found that adaptive education offered a pedagogy that simultaneously addressed the need for increased sustainability knowledge, whilst inverting its dominance. As a long-term project, the extent of the programme’s impact will be evident beyond the programme’s completion. Research limitations/implications This interpretive case study is analysed through high-level conceptual and theoretical aspects of the pedagogy rather than the particularities of the case. By putting the centrality of knowledge into question, the authors are advocating for a more experimental role for higher education in its teaching and learning. These questions are broadly applicable. Social implications There are research, learning and social benefits to this programme. Adaptive education builds capacity for future leaders and educators of sustainability. Originality/value The paper concludes with a discussion for further theorizing and research on adaptive education and EfS in higher education. This research will contribute to broader discussions of the evolving role of education in sustainability.

Transformative learning: innovating sustainability education in built environment

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Usha Iyer-Raniga ◽  
Mary Myla Andamon
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Collaborative Work ◽  
Sustainability Education ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Education For Sustainability ◽  
General Direction ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Analysis Application ◽  
Slow Progress

Purpose – This paper aims to evaluate how transformative learning is key to innovating sustainability education in the built environment in the region’s universities, in addition to reporting on the research project undertaken to integrate sustainability thinking and practice into engineering/built environment curricula in Asia-Pacific universities. Design/methodology/approach – The project drew from the experiences of academics in built environment programmes and espoused a collaborative inquiry process wherein the role of the industry was vital. A literature review focusing on sustainability integration into curricula was followed by a workshop which brought together academic and industry participants. Findings – The general direction of education for sustainability is moving increasingly towards integration and innovation. However, the slow progress of integration of sustainability in the built environment curricula may have been due in part to the outcome/practice-led approach of built environment education, which is the hallmark of the discipline and lends to a largely discipline-based curriculum framework. Research limitations/implications – The project focused only on the curricula of university programmes and courses taught in the participating Asia-Pacific universities and institutions. Practical implications – This paper highlights how the framework for the proposed curriculum guide focusing primarily on built environment programmes and courses can provide guidance for potential application in other higher education institutions. Originality/value – Much is written about embedding sustainability and education in built environment curricula. However, little analysis, application and collaborative work in Asia-Pacific universities have taken place. This paper considers the value of transformative learning in the innovation of the predominantly discipline-based engineering/built environment programmes for sustainability.

scholarly journals Engaging head, heart and hands: Holistic learning approach for education for sustainable development

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 298-304
Author(s):  
Siti Nur Diyana Mahmud
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Education For Sustainable Development ◽  
Education For Sustainability ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Holistic Learning

Abstract   Sustainable development requires simultaneous and balanced progress in four dimensions i.e; social, economic, ecological and political, those are totally interdependent. Sustainability issues often regarded as complex and difficult to be understood through single discipline. Therefore education for sustainability learning requires integration of various teaching and learning approaches. With this concern in mind, the purpose of this paper is to discuss the holistic learning approach which engaging the head, heart and hands, for Education for Sustainable Development in one higher education institutions in Malaysia. By using the multiple case study design, three sustainability related courses which are from various disciplines was selected as cases. The findings from the semi-structured interview with the lecturers, focus group with students, class observations and course outline analysis showed the unifying framework of head, heart and hands learning and teaching approach. This unifying learning approaches that engage and develops the ‘whole person’: affective, cognitive and practical dimensions and abilities, and in relation to ‘real-world’ issues and concerns, seems provide better opportunity for learning for education for sustainability. Keywords: Education for sustainable development, higher education, transformative learning, systemic learning.  

scholarly journals Examining the Research Evolution on the Socio-Economic and Environmental Dimensions on University Social Responsibility

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (13) ◽  
pp. 4729 ◽  
Author(s):  
Víctor Meseguer-Sánchez ◽  
Emilio Abad-Segura ◽  
Luis Jesús Belmonte-Ureña ◽  
Valentín Molina-Moreno
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Sustainable Consumption ◽  
The United States ◽  
Education For Sustainability ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Transfer Of Knowledge ◽  
Business And Society ◽  
Main Category

Responsible higher education institutions have an impact on society and economic, environmental, and social development. These effects define the axes of the socially responsible management of the universities. The concept of university social responsibility (USR) manages these relationships to produce a positive impact on society through higher education, research, and the transfer of knowledge and technology, as well as education for sustainability. For this study, worldwide research into this subject was studied for the period 1970–2019. A bibliometric analysis of 870 articles was made, obtaining results for the scientific productivity of the journals, authors, institutions, and countries contributing to this research. The main category is business, management, and accounting. The most productive journal is the Business and Society Review, while the California Management Review is the most cited. The authors with the most articles are Stavnezer, Luo, and Lanero. The most productive institution is Wuhan University. The United States is the country with the most publications and citations, and the same country, together with the United Kingdom, make the most international contributions. Evidence shows growing worldwide interest in the economic and environmental impacts of USR. Future research should focus on analysing the links between the responsible and sustainable consumption of universities and their short-term financial, economic, and sustainable impacts.

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