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.

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.

scholarly journals Co-creating real-world research skills

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-127
Author(s):  
Julie Prescott ◽  
Duncan Cross ◽  
Pippa Iliff
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Real World ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Setting Time ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Research Skills ◽  
Open Environment ◽  
Support Time ◽  
Shared Ownership

This case study considers a students-as-partners’ research project that aimed to develop technologically-driven tools to enhance teaching and learning in higher education. It focuses on how the project enabled student participants to gain real world research skills and experience. We present reflections from both a student and a staff perspective and propose START (Support, Time, Adapt, Risks, Trust) as an approach to engage students to gain real-world research skills. Support refers to providing support for skills gaps and learning in an applied setting. Time refers to providing time to settle into the project and develop confidence, including realistic timeframes and deadlines. Adapt refers to giving students the space to develop not only the required skills but also the tools to develop their own abilities and confidence through a supportive, flexible and open environment. Risks refers to taking risks for example in terms of roles, responsibilities and leadership. Trust refers to providing guidance and encouragement that will allow students to achieve on their own and take shared ownership.

scholarly journals The COVID-19 pandemic: a catalyst for creativity and collaboration for online learning and work-based higher education systems and processes

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tashmin Khamis ◽  
Azra Naseem ◽  
Anil Khamis ◽  
Pammla Petrucka
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Staff Development ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Organisational Change ◽  
Faculty Training ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Regulatory Frameworks

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to focus on work-based problems catalysed by the COVID-19 global pandemic, based on a case study of a multi-continental, multi-campus university distributed across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Pakistan. Higher education institutions (HEIs) in developing countries lacked pre-existing infrastructure to support online education and/or policy and regulatory frameworks during the pandemic. The university's programmes in Pakistan and East Africa provide lessons to other developing countries' HEIs. The university's focus on teaching and learning and staff development has had a transformational organisational effect.Design/methodology/approachCase study with participatory approaches aimed at co-production of responsive systems and co-creation of effective curriculum and faculty training is used.FindingsSystems and processes developed across the university in the effort to ensure educational continuity. From the disruption to all educational programmes and the disarray of regulatory bodies' responses, collaboration emerged as a key driver of positive change. The findings reiterate the value of trust and provision of opportunities for those with the requisite competencies to lead in a participatory and distributive manner whilst addressing limited human and financial resources. The findings reflect on previous work respecting organisational change recast in the digital age.Originality/valueThis paper reflects the authors' work in real-time as they led and managed changes encountered during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper will be of value to management and leadership cadres, particularly in developing contexts, responsible for recovery and sustainability of the higher education sector.

Real World Learning

2011 ◽  
pp. 326-352
Author(s):  
Nigel Ford
Keyword(s):  
Learning Style ◽  
Real World ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Support Systems ◽  
Adaptive Behaviour ◽  
Learning Support ◽  
Learning Design ◽  
Information And Computer Technology ◽  
Real World Learning

This chapter focuses on limitations in our knowledge of learning, learning design, and the design of information and computer technology (ICT)-based learning support systems. We need to overcome these limitations in order to enable us to improve our own learning, the design of other people’s learning, and the design of learning support systems that will work effectively in the real world. The chapter starts by focusing on some of the problems besetting research into humans, and the need to recognise the serious limitations of knowledge derived from such research when it comes to practical application in real world teaching and learning. It explores, as a mini case study, a notion that is central to much educational informatics research and development, namely personalisation, and within this, a construct that a number of researchers and developers have used and are using as a driver of adaptive behaviour—learning style. The chapter goes on to present another mini case study in which the applicability of a well established and influential theoretical framework for learning design in higher education—Laurillard’s conversational. framework—is evaluated in a real world blended learning context.

The role of senior management in developing and achieving a successful enterprise education programme?

2015 ◽  
Vol 57 (7) ◽  
pp. 791-811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerry Lee ◽  
Ghada Hebaishi ◽  
John Hope
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Education Programme ◽  
Management Team ◽  
Senior Management ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Interpretive Case Study ◽  
Enterprise Education

Purpose – The New Zealand Ministry of Education identified that teachers need to be confident they have the support of their school management team before they embrace twenty-first century teaching and learning in enterprise education (Ministry of Education, 2013b). The purpose of this paper is to outline an interpretive case study which investigated the views held by the management of a New Zealand secondary school, well known for enterprise education. Design/methodology/approach – The study used semi-structured interviews to investigate what aspects were deemed important by senior management and whether they saw themselves as pivotal in the success of enterprise education. Findings – The management team believed their role to be pivotal and that nine aspects were necessary for a successful enterprise programme. Originality/value – It is anticipated that the results from this interpretive case study will assist others in their planning, development and success of future quality enterprise education programmes.

scholarly journals Real World Learning: Simulation and Gaming

2020 ◽  
pp. 187-214
Author(s):  
Jonathan Lean ◽  
Jonathan Moizer ◽  
Cathrine Derham ◽  
Lesley Strachan ◽  
Zakirul Bhuiyan
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Real World ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Classroom Setting ◽  
Real World Learning ◽  
Subject Areas ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract Simulations and games are being used across a variety of subject areas as a means to provide insight into real world situations within a classroom setting; they offer many of the benefits of real world learning but without some of the associated risks and costs. Lean, Moizer, Derham, Strachan and Bhuiyan aim to evaluate the role of simulations and games in real world learning. The nature of simulations and games is discussed with reference to a variety of examples in Higher Education. Their role in real world learning is evaluated with reference to the benefits and challenges of their use for teaching and learning in Higher Education. Three case studies from diverse subject contexts are reported to illustrate the use of simulations and games and some of the associated issues.

scholarly journals ‘Getting to the Soul’: Radical Facilitation of ‘Real World’ Learning in Higher Education Programmes Through Reflective Practice

2020 ◽  
pp. 299-322
Author(s):  
Jo Trelfa
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Reflective Practice ◽  
Real World ◽  
Space Time ◽  
Doctoral Research ◽  
Correct Performance ◽  
Real World Learning

Abstract This chapter foregrounds reflective practice as integral to ‘real world’ learning in higher education. Concerning the development of professional ‘artistry’ of and for post-degree life, literature focuses on the nature and form of reflective activities to foster student scrutiny therefore control of self and situation whilst engaged in real world learning. Yet, Trelfa’s doctoral research suggests the only real ‘learning’ is correct performance to pass their course. Reflective practice, and real world learning, has ‘lost its soul’. Drawing on Lefebvre’s (Rhythmanalysis: Space, time and everyday life. London: Continuum, 1992/2004) concept of ‘breaking-in’ to understand this soul-less situation (illustrated in case study one), Trelfa calls for it to be radically different: if real world learning is to live up to its name then its reflective practice needs to be authentic (illustrated in case study 2).

Drama in higher education for sustainability: work-based learning through fiction?

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Österlind
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Education For Sustainability ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Traditional Teaching ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Meaningful Context ◽  
The University

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to highlight the use of drama in the context of professional learning for sustainability, and specifically, a drama workshop on sustainability for in-service teachers. The workshop was designed to explore environmental problems from several perspectives, by using drama techniques like bodily expressions, visualisations and role-play.Design/methodology/approachData are drawn from questionnaires evaluating the effects of a drama workshop delivered in Helsinki in 2017. In total, 15 in-service teachers answered open-ended questions. Responses from experienced teachers were chosen as particularly interesting in relation to work-based learning.FindingsThe findings demonstrate that drama work contributes to education for sustainability in terms of increased self-awareness, critical reflections and signs of transformation; experienced professional learners bring their workplace context into the university, which enriches teaching and learning; and sustainability is a non-traditional subject in need of non-traditional teaching approaches.Research limitations/implicationsThe results of this small-scale study are only valid for this particular group.Practical implicationsThe study gives an example of how applied drama can contribute to learning for sustainability in higher education.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to a growing literature concerning how drama allows participants to work on real problems, from a safe position in a fictive situation, providing both closeness and distance. When students become involved in anas-ifsituation, it leads to increased motivation and practice-oriented learning. As the content of sustainability can be challenging, drama work offers a meaningful context in which concepts and issues can be explored. Fictive situations may contribute to more realistic learning experiences.

scholarly journals Wheels of change in higher education

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin Warr Pedersen ◽  
Emma Pharo ◽  
Corey Peterson ◽  
Geoffrey Andrew Clark
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
Education For Sustainability ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Campus Sustainability ◽  
Authentic Education ◽  
Integration Program ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to profile the development of a bicycle parking hub at the University of Tasmania to illustrate how the Academic Operations Sustainability Integration Program promotes real change through the engagement of stakeholders from across an institution to deliver campus sustainability. This case study outlines one example of how place-based learning initiatives focused on campus sustainability challenges have delivered authentic education for sustainability in the Australasian higher education setting. Design/methodology/approach This case study outlines the process through which a cross-disciplinary place-based learning initiative was designed, implemented and evaluated over a three-year period. The evaluation of the project was designed to assess the impact of this education for sustainability approach on both operational and student learning outcomes, and to make recommendations on the continuation of place-based learning initiatives through the Academic Operations Sustainability Integration Program. Findings This case study illustrates how learning can be focused around finding solutions to real world problems through the active participation of staff and students as members of a learning community. This experience helped the authors to better understand how place-based learning initiatives can help deliver authentic education for sustainability and the success factors required for engaging staff and students in such efforts. Originality/value The case study highlights an example of an education for sustainability initiative that was mutually driven by the operational and learning objectives of an institution, and specifically the ways in which the engagement of staff and students from across an institution can lead to the successful integration of these two often disparate institutional goals.

Deconstructing quality in South African higher education

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kehdinga George Fomunyam
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Staff Development ◽  
South African ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
South African Universities ◽  
South African Higher Education

Purpose This study aims to examine six South African universities with a particular focus on the quality of teaching and learning. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative case study approach was adopted and data were mainly generated by means of open-ended questionnaires. The questionnaire was circulated to approximately 1,800 students and 746 completed it. The data were categorized and analysed thematically, using both national and international benchmarks for quality teaching and learning. Findings The findings reveal that teaching and learning in South African universities is marred by a plethora of challenges. Lecturers lack basic skills and essential resources to effectively facilitate teaching and learning. Furthermore, quality benchmarks set by the Council on Higher Education are only met on paper and little or nothing is done to translate this into practice. Originality/value The study proposes among others that clearer policies on funding are recommended to ensure proper allocation of resources, staff development and institutional comeliness. Finally, to enhance transformation, universities should prioritize teaching and learning and take steps to ensure that those teaching in the classroom are qualified to do so.

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