The Role of University Centers in Environmental and Sustainability Education in Envisioning Futures

2016 ◽  
pp. 131-142
Author(s):  
Peter Blaze Corcoran ◽  
Joseph P. Weakland ◽  
Brandon P. Hollingshead
Keyword(s):  
Sustainability Education ◽  
University Centers

The wicked problem of teaching about wicked problems: Design thinking and emerging technologies in sustainability education

2020 ◽  
pp. 135050762097485
Author(s):  
Andrew G. Earle ◽  
Dante I. Leyva-de la Hiz
Keyword(s):  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Design Thinking ◽  
Emerging Technologies ◽  
Sustainability Education ◽  
Wicked Problems ◽  
System Level ◽  
Wicked Problem ◽  
Thinking Process

In this paper, we explore the system-level challenges found in sustainability-focused education and consider how the intersections of design thinking and emerging technologies in augmented and virtual reality (AVR) can help address these. More specifically, we highlight the role of experiences across the design thinking process for generating novel solutions to the types of “wicked” problems with which students engage in sustainability education. We then use this as motivation, along with concepts from experiential learning and design thinking research, to develop a conceptual model in which AVR can integrate with more established instructional methods to help make sustainability-related challenges more salient, proximate, and tractable to students. Our conceptual model suggests that AVR holds promise for facilitating and democratizing access to the design thinking process for sustainability-related challenges, but that it is also not a standalone solution for enabling students to engage with such complex challenges.

Transactional learning and sustainability co-creation in a university – business collaboration

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 965-984 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katriina Soini ◽  
Kaisa Korhonen-Kurki ◽  
Henna Asikainen
Keyword(s):  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Core Competence ◽  
Sustainability Education ◽  
Private Company ◽  
Affective Dimension ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Collaboration ◽  
Systemic Understanding ◽  
Transactional Learning

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the learning outcomes of the project-based learning in a Master Class programme on sustainability carried out in collaboration by the University of Helsinki and a private company operating in global mining technology. The following two questions were addressed: Q1. What kind of sustainability competences do participants acquire in the Master Class? Q2. What is the role of PBL in the learning outcomes? Design/methodology/approach The study is based on an ex ante open-ended survey and post-ante interviews addressed to the participants. The data were analysed using the qualitative content analysis. Findings The findings show that the Master Class contributed to most of the competences under study. However, unlike in previous studies, systemic thinking is highlighted as a fundamental rather than a parallel core competence. Furthermore, the results also emphasise the role of emotions, which is insufficiently acknowledged and accounted for in sustainability education. Research limitations/implications The study focussed only on the learning outcomes of the participants (students) and not the other parties (such as company and researchers). Practical implications Future research should focus on affective dimension as a stepping stone to the transformational learning. In addition, the role of the systemic understanding in sustainability education should be highlighted as a core competence. Social implications The study revealed the overall positive impacts of the co-creation in university – business collaboration to the participants’ sustainability competences. Originality/value The study presents an empirical case study where the various competence frameworks were applied with a result of confirming the validity of the existing key competences, in particular the systemic understanding and showing the role of the affective dimension in the transactional learning.

scholarly journals Putting the UN SDGs on the Map: The Role of Cartography in Sustainability Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander J. Kent ◽  
Peter Vujakovic ◽  
Gwilym Eades ◽  
Martin Davis
Keyword(s):  
Sustainability Education

scholarly journals NEW SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING PROGRAM PROPOSAL – MINDSET AND DEVELOPMENT

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robyn Paul ◽  
Gillian Ayers ◽  
Joule Bergerson ◽  
Kerry Black ◽  
Tanya Brucker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systems Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Sustainability Education ◽  
Education Literature ◽  
Sustainable Systems ◽  
University Of Calgary ◽  
The University ◽  
Climate Crisis

With the continued climate crisis, there is increasing recognition for the important of sustainabilityeducation in engineering. At the University of Calgary, we are developing a program in Sustainable Systems Engineering to address this need. Systems thinking and sustainability are intrinsically linked, as in order to comprehend the wicked challenges of sustainability today, we must take a holistic, interconnected, systems approach. This paper outlines sustainability education literature, and our approach to program development. Overall, we hope to foster mindsets and develop engineering students who are able to fundamentally shift the discourse on sustainability engineering within industry, and critically reflect on the role of engineering itself.

Transformative Sustainability Education and Empowerment Practice on Indigenous Lands

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 344-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lewis Williams
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Health ◽  
Sustainability Education ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Indigenous Lands ◽  
Empowerment Practice ◽  
Ways Of Being ◽  
Scaling Out

Set against a context of Indigenous health disparities, climate turmoil, and unpredictability of human-ecological systems, this article asks the question of how transformative sustainability education (TSE) with its increasing emphasis on Indigenous knowledge and ways of being can be effectively and ethically applied in colonized modern nation-states? In doing so, it makes the necessary links between the interconnected goals of addressing underlying determinants of Indigenous health and supporting the resurgence of Indigenous knowledges and ways of being toward ensuring planetary well-being more generally. As a means of negotiating this critical interface, three pedagogical capabilities of TSE (Scaling DEEP, Scaling OUT, and Scaling UP) are briefly outlined. Having laid this theoretical groundwork, this article (Part 1) focuses primarily on the role of the transformative sustainability educator in Scaling DEEP (effecting cultural and relational transformation from a de-colonial perspective) as a necessary precursor to the interrelated domains of Scaling OUT and UP (programming and policy change).

scholarly journals Physiopunk: Speculative fiction for future therapies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filip Maric ◽  
◽  
Liv Nikolaisen ◽  
Åse Bårdsen ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Sustainability Education ◽  
National Guidelines ◽  
Integrated Education ◽  
The Social ◽  
Physiotherapy Students ◽  
Healthcare Professional Education

In light of today’s deeply connected social and environmental crises, environmental and sustainability education is increasingly being integrated into public health and healthcare professional education around the world (Barna, Maric, Simons, Kumar & Blankestijn, 2020). The Norwegian ‘regulations on national guidelines for physiotherapist education’ clearly support the integration of these topics by stating that ‘in addition to individually oriented work, physiotherapists should contribute to improving public health and the sustainability of society on the group and system-levels…with competencies in interdisciplinary and goal-oriented collaborations within the health- and care-sector and other sectors…to meet societies existing and future needs’ (Forskrift om nasjonal retningslinje for fysioterapeututdanning, 2019, our translation). In a new introductory public health module for our 1st year physiotherapy students at UiT Norges Arktiske Universitet we therefore integrated education about the social and environmental problems of our time and how they interact with health at many levels to inspire students to imagine novel futures for physiotherapy and the role of healthcare professionals in the future.

“Sustainability Education” Practices at the Universities from a Developing Country Context

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Faruk Bhuiyan ◽  
Md Hafij Ullah
Keyword(s):  
Sustainability Education ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Vision Statements ◽  
Sustainable Education ◽  
Commission Report ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
The Developed Countries ◽  
The University

Developing countries have been facing more challenges to sustainability than the developed countries. This chapter evaluates the current sustainable education practices among the universities in Bangladesh and proposes a revised multi-level framework to enhance sustainability education practices among the universities. Based on the opinion of the staff and students of the top 10 public and private universities (according to the University Grant Commission report 2018) in Bangladesh, the study found evidence of the inclusion of sustainability issues onto the faculty's mission and vision statements, but very few are incorporated into the program curricula. In addition, dearth of sustainability training to the teachers provokes their failure of providing education for sustainable development. Considering the findings, this chapter proposes the importance and role of regulatory authorities teachers, students, professionals, and corporate people enhancing sustainable education practices at the university level.

A Real-World Exploration of Green Human Resources and Sustainability Education in Hyper-Connected and Technology-Driven Organizations

2022 ◽  
pp. 1040-1051
Author(s):  
Darrell Norman Burrell ◽  
Roderick French ◽  
Preston Vernard Leicester Lindsay ◽  
Amina I. Ayodeji-Ogundiran ◽  
Harry L. Hobbs
Keyword(s):  
Human Resources ◽  
Real World ◽  
Corporate Citizenship ◽  
Sustainability Education ◽  
Real World Problem ◽  
The World ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
Focus Strategy ◽  
Brundtland Report

The early concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR), also frequently described as corporate citizenship or sustainability, grew from the seminal 1987 Brundtland Report, commissioned by the United Nations. CSR has progressed to the standpoint that in organizations necessitates the synchronized fulfillment of the firm's economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities in ways that focus strategy, operations, and behaviors towards the promotion of sustainability from a construct where organizational strategy is concerned with the care of the planet, people, and profit. This paper explores the role of green human resources interventions focused on creating organizational cultures that support sustainability in technical and hyper-connected organizations. The paper is not intended to reconstitute theory. The paper is highly theoretical and practical with the intention of influencing the world practice from practical real-world problem approaches and theories from the literature.

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