Simulating the Sustainable Development Goals: Scaffolding, Social Media and Self-Reported Learning Outcomes Amongst Entry-Level Students

This paper presents three tools developed within the framework of the project EDINSOST2-SDG, aimed at embedding and assessing the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Engineering curricula. ESD is promoted through the introduction into engineering curricula of learning outcomes related to sustainability and, specifically, to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The first tool, the “Engineering Sustainability Map”, contains ESD-related learning outcomes that any engineering student should have acquired upon completion of their studies. These learning outcomes are described according to four sustainability competencies: (1) Critical contextualization of knowledge, (2) Sustainable use of resources, (3) Participation in community processes, and (4) Application of ethical principles. The second tool, the “Sustainability Presence Map” of a degree, shows the percentage of the presence in the curriculum of each sustainability competency. The calculation of the presence of each competency is based on the effective integration of the related learning outcomes into a specific curriculum. Respective data are provided by teachers responsible for the coordination of the different subjects of the degree, collected by means of a questionnaire. The third tool presented is a questionnaire aimed at measuring the level of ESD that students perceive they have acquired through each competency. The comparison of data resulting from the Sustainability Presence Map with the data from the student questionnaire is the first step that allows the effectiveness of embedding ESD in a degree to be determined, a proper learning assessment will confirm such effectiveness. The three tools presented in this work have undergone a validation process and are currently being used in a set of engineering degrees related to the EDINSOST2-SDG project. The results of the application of these tools are part of the future research work of the authors.

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Mapping Global Youth and Religion. Big Data As Lens to Envision a Sustainable Development Future

Tripodos ◽

10.51698/tripodos.2020.48p33-52 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 33-52

Author(s):

Josep-Lluís Micó-Sanz ◽

Miriam Diez-Bosch ◽

Alba Sabaté-Gauxachs ◽

Verónica Israel-Turim

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Sustainable Development ◽

Big Data ◽

Young People ◽

Sustainable Development Goals ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

The World ◽

Development Goals ◽

Change Culture

Having fun and buying goods. For the young people of the world between 18 and 25, these are their main concerns on social media, as demonstrated by this study, which aims to identify the interests of global youth and also to unveil religion’s place in this generation (Lim and Parker, 2020; Tilleczek and Campbell, 2019). The role of values and education among them (Zamora-Polo et al., 2020), and the influencers and social leaders they follow are also included among the results of this research, which also plans to discern their potential alignment with the challenges of the Sustainable Development Goals. For this purpose, more than 540 million Facebook and Instagram profiles have been analyzed using social listening (Couldry, 2006) through a Big Data based methodology. The results are new values (Kimball, 2019) and new ways to envisage religion, and depict an evolving landscape with change, culture and consumption pointing the way. Keywords: big data, religion, youth, social media, sustainable development goals.

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A Research on the Combination of Oblique Photography and Mobile Applications Based on the Sustainable Development of Tourism

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12093501 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (9) ◽

pp. 3501

Author(s):

Mengyi Lin ◽

Fu-Yuan Li ◽

Haibin Zhou

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Sustainable Development ◽

Mobile Applications ◽

Sustainable Development Goals ◽

Driving Forces ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Modern Society ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Development Goals

Tourism is one of the world’s fastest driving forces of economic development, playing an important role in achieving sustainable development goals. In modern society, mobile social media is a communication and decision-making platform for users and a source of big data information about travel. Obtaining and analyzing travel data can provide customer-oriented information about travel destinations and comprehensive services for both tourism operators and tourists. It has a positive impact on the sustainable development of society, economy, environment, and humanities. Starting with theoretical analysis and empirical research, this study combines social media and oblique photography, conducts a case study of the Pingtan comprehensive experimental area in China, and develops an app about online travelling to provide corresponding information for consumers’ decisions. This study also discusses the potential value of the app, i.e., assisting the development of smart travel in city, achieving sustainable development of tourism, and contributing to tourism globally.

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Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Assessing the Contribution of Higher Education Programmes

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12176701 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (17) ◽

pp. 6701 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Vasiliki Kioupi ◽

Nikolaos Voulvoulis

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Learning Outcomes ◽

Sustainable Development Goals ◽

Strong Argument ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Diversity And Inclusion ◽

Educational Programmes ◽

Development Goals ◽

Operating Space ◽

Using Data

Universities are engines of societal transformation and can nurture future citizens and navigate them towards sustainability through their educational programmes. Here, we developed an assessment framework for educational institutions to evaluate the contribution of their educational programmes to sustainability by reviewing the alignment of their intended learning outcomes to the enabling conditions for a vision of sustainability based on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The tool is based on a systemic grouping of the SDGs into eight sustainability attributes, namely, Safe Operating Space, Just Operating Space, Resilient Sustainable Behaviours, Alternative Economic Models, Health and Wellbeing, Collaboration, Diversity and Inclusion, and Transparency and Governance, and uses a word code developed specifically for each sustainability attribute to assess the coverage of the SDGs in master’s programmes’ learning outcomes. The tool uses multi-criteria analysis to compare and rank programmes according to the alignment of their learning outcomes to the sustainability attributes and their contribution to sustainability. It was first tested using data from a University’s eighteen master’s programmes on a range of subjects and subsequently applied to compare forty UK and European master’s programmes focusing on environment and sustainability. Findings demonstrate that even environmental programmes face some important gaps related to health, wellbeing, diversity, inclusion, and collaboration, amongst others, and reinforce the need for all universities to understand the contribution of their programmes to sustainability. The application of the tool can generate empirical evidence on the effectiveness of university programmes and establish a strong argument regarding the potential of education as a tool for achieving the SDGs.

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Influence of political leaders on sustainable development goals – insights from twitter

Journal of Enterprise Information Management ◽

10.1108/jeim-07-2020-0304 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Purva Grover ◽

Arpan Kumar Kar ◽

Shivam Gupta ◽

Sachin Modgil

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Sustainable Development ◽

Sustainable Development Goals ◽

Social Media Analytics ◽

Political Leaders ◽

Content Type ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Adoption And Implementation ◽

Development Goals ◽

Zero Hunger

PurposeThe importance and criticality of sustainable development goals is witnessed by 195 member countries. For its full-fledged adoption and implementation, it needs to be understood by masses and political leaders are critical agents those engage diverse communities through social media such as twitter. Therefore, in this study focuses on how political leaders can influence the sustainable development goals through Twitter.Design/methodology/approachThis study examines the social media conversations of political leaders on Twitter. Social media analytics methods such as sentiment mining, topic modelling and content analysis-based methods have been used.FindingsThe findings indicate that most political leaders are primarily discussing the sustainable development goals (SDGs) “partnership for goals” and “peace, justice and strong institutions”. Many other goals such as “clean water and sanitation”, “life below water”, “zero hunger”, “no poverty” and “educational quality” are not being focused on.Research limitations/implicationsThis study offers implications in terms of collective decision making and the role of policy makers towards the goals of promoting SDGs. The authors highlight how political leaders need to involve key stakeholders in this journey.Originality/valueThis study scores and provides a cohort-specific prioritization of the leadership within these countries with regard to SDGs, which could be beneficial to the society.

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Strategy for the Evaluation and Monitoring of Competencies in Engineering Programs to Improve Students’ Learning and Quality of Education

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su132111721 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (21) ◽

pp. 11721

Author(s):

Pamela Hermosilla ◽

Felipe Muñoz-La Rivera ◽

Nicolás Ateaga ◽

Elisa Gallardo

Keyword(s):

Sustainable Development ◽

Learning Outcomes ◽

Sustainable Development Goals ◽

Quality Of Education ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

Engineering Programs ◽

Integral Development ◽

Development Goals ◽

Evaluation And Monitoring

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) framework propose the concept of competencies as a key cognitive, attitudinal, and procedural aspect aimed at the integral development of students, which implies a challenge in the way of evaluating them. Thus, the traditional monitoring of students’ progress through their grades is not enough, and monitoring competency is becoming more important. This research proposes a system for monitoring competencies in engineering programs. The system identifies the expected learning outcomes (LOs) of each course and cross-references them according to the ponderation of each evaluation planned. Subsequently, it links each LO with the competencies of the course, allowing the student to be monitored throughout their career. The strategy was applied to a civil engineering course. The students’ results, according to the course competencies, were obtained, linking them correctly with the LO and the grades obtained. The evolution of these competencies was evaluated until the end of the semester in which the students were taking the course. The analysis of the results shows the differences between the monitoring by grades versus by competencies, evidencing that there were cases in which a student passed the course by grades but failed to develop the expected competency.

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