Wednesday 30 October 2013

University of Planetshire approach to integrating sustainability across the curriculum (Part 3 of EDUCATION pathway to a Sustainable University)

Note: Online satellites are in yellow.
































Introduction

 

As the key education provider and trainer of future leaders, decision-makers, educators and professionals in general, universities are increasingly expected to produce sustainability oriented and competent graduates to drive and contribute to society’s endeavours for a sustainable future. Therefore, integrating sustainability across the curriculum has become a key agenda in higher education.

 

However, as the contemporary literature indicates, for a typical university, integrating sustainability across its curriculum remains a challenge due to a number of reasons. For example, universities are organised around discipline-based structures, so cutting across discipline-boundaries as well as changes to curricula tends to face resistance. Moreover, discipline-oriented students and particularly academics tend to be uncomfortable in the context of sustainability, which is an emerging inter/trans-disciplinary area of study without much agreement on its parameters or definition.

 

This University of Planetshire (UoP) approach aims to address these issues in two ways. Firstly, it would adopt a range of indirect routes to complement the formal curriculum in terms of sustainability, turning to two other forms of curriculum opportunities in universities. Secondly, it would provide students and staff with a choice of three comfortable and interesting pathways to the world of sustainability: (1) Disciplines/subjects, (2) Interests (e.g. Energy) (3) Global regions (i.e. cultural).

 

The key stakeholders are of two types:

§  Internal: students and UoP professionals (i.e. academics, researchers, Sustainability/Estates team, management, Communications/Marketing team)

§  External: alumni, the local community, future students and other providers of higher and further education worldwide

 

The proposal is relevant to all universities in general, especially in the UK. For convenience, a fictitious UK university has been created, namely The University of Planetshire (UoP).

 

Vision, Mission and Aims

 

Vision: A community of UoP graduates leading the global endeavour for a sustainable future

 

Mission: For UoP to be recognised worldwide as a leading Sustainable University that produces sustainability-oriented and competent graduates needed for building a sustainable future

 

Aims:

§  To help students to gain the necessary knowledge, skills and values to become sustainability-oriented and competent graduates in the future

§  To provide students with an opportunity to experience sustainable ways of living while on campus

§  To provide support in multiple ways (education, communication, research, networking, motivation) to the programme of embedding sustainability across the UoP curriculum

§  To provide stakeholders with networking opportunities to link with sustainability-oriented individuals, groups and bodies worldwide

§  To use the success of the UoP sustainability-in-the-curriculum efforts to support other HE agendas such as student recruitment, internationalisation and e-learning

 

Strategy

 

The strategy adopted by this programme is of two-fold:

§  Core strategy

§  Supplementary strategy

 

Core strategy

Perceiving campus as a living laboratory for sustainability (Beringer and Adomssent, 2008), synthesise the three curricula opportunities – formal, informal and campus (Hopkinson et al., 2008) – in the context of an adapted version of the 4-C model comprising campus, curriculum, culture and community (e.g. Blake and Sterling 2011), bringing together students, staff and others in a positive relationship for developing sustainability oriented and competent graduates and also assisting them in their sustainability efforts after graduation.

 

Note: This approach would not propose any changes to the formal curriculum but would instead innovatively use informal and campus curricula opportunities to complement the formal curriculum with respect to sustainability.

 

Supplementary strategy

The principles of the supplementary strategy are as follows:

§  Integrate education, communication, research, networking and motivation to unlock the synergies of the three curricula opportunities (as experimented on the UNEP-recognised Sustainable University One-stop Shop http://www.sustainableuni.kk5.org/)

§  Address curriculum issues related to both content and pedagogy

§  Use multiple pathways for stakeholder engagement:

o   Disciplines (e.g. Sociology, Engineering, History, Business)

o   Interests (e.g. Energy, Carbon, Water)

o   Global regions (e.g. Europe, Asia)

§  Create among stakeholders discipline-based awareness of the dynamics of wider world’s sustainability issues, debate, developments and perspectives

§  Build on the existing strengths at UoP (e.g. expertise, centres, policies, practice, networks, student diversity, partnerships, alumni)

§  Cost-effectiveness, mainly through the use of free online resources (e.g. free website builders and social networking) and MS Word/ PDF combination for publications production (a more environment-friendly option)

§  Create a rewarding experience for the stakeholders (e.g. a global platform for celebrating achievements, networking opportunities)

§  For engagement, use both hard and soft means (e.g. research and poetry, respectively)

§  A host of outputs with simple, attractive and user-friendly content and structure

§  Open access to the online outputs to anyone (free of charge), but through UoP branded windows

 

Outputs

 

The outputs of this proposed programme are as follows:

§  Planetshire Curriculum for a Sustainable Future: online one-stop shop, central platform, education, informal curriculum, disciplines, ESD

o   Social networking (including blog): networking, informal curriculum, education, communication, engagement

o   PDFs:

§  Flier: communication, marketing

§  Knowledge sheets: education, informal curriculum, campus curriculum, disciplines, interests (e.g. Water), global regions

§  Newsletter: communication, networking, marketing

§  Annual review: communication, networking, marketing

§  Research for a Sustainable Future website: research, ‘hard’ approach, informal curriculum, community (local to global)

§  Sustainable Campus website: operations, campus curriculum, interests pathway, good practice at campus, marketing

o   Green Ideas bank website (students to submit ideas on making the university more sustainable): operations, campus curriculum, motivation, engagement, participation

§  Sustainability in the Wider World website: community (local to global), informal curriculum, disciplines, ESD

§  Light Sustainability website: ‘soft’ approach, education, ESD, informal curriculum, quotes, stories, arts (e.g., poetry), motivation, engagement, cultural knowledge

§  Publications:

o   Academic papers: Research, ESD, campus curriculum

o   Press articles (with UoP professionals as resource persons): (mainly public) education, disciplines, UoP professionals’ expertise

o   Book: research, ESD

§  Help desk: One-to-one help for UoP stakeholders, guidance, information, networking, motivation

§  Notice boards network:

o   Subjects boards: disciplines, education, ESD, informal curriculum, discipline-based knowledge

o   Interests boards: interests (e.g. Energy), education, campus curriculum, scientific knowledge

o   Global regions boards: global regions, ESD, education, informal curriculum, cultural knowledge

§  Exhibitions:

o   World days (e.g. Water): education, informal curriculum, networking, motivation, engagement

o   Annual exhibition: education, communication, networking, motivation, marketing

§  A UoP-led Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) on ESD (as part of UN University’s global RCE network, e.g. The RCE London http://www.londonrce.kk5.org): education, informal curriculum, community (local to global), networking, motivation

 

Concluding remarks

 

Benefits:

§  Support for integrating sustainability across the curriculum of UoP without an interference on its formal curriculum (education)

§  Support for the UoP Sustainable Campus programme (operations)

§  Enhancement of reputation of UoP (communications/marketing):

o   as a producer of sustainability oriented and competent graduates (education)

o   as an innovative researcher on university sustainability (research)

o   as a provider of sustainability services to wider community free of charge, in terms of (public) education, communication, networking and motivation (outreach)

§  A cost-effective approach, comprising innovative use of free resources (free website builders, social networking and MS Word-PDF combination), implemented as an research (and development) project

 

Feasibility:

This project proposal has been developed around a successful live model, branded as The Sustainable University One-stop Shop http://www.sustainableuni.kk5.org/, which has been recognised in the recently published UNEP Greening Universities Toolkit http://www.unep.org/Training/docs/Greening_University_Toolkit.pdf (page 61). This approach has taken a relatively less complicated route as a research project under a supervisor with an interest in sustainability in general (or with a wide scope). Firstly, internal stakeholders are more likely to engage favourably with a research study. Secondly, a research project of limited period would lower the financial and administration burden on the university.

 

NOTE:

 

The next post will consider the tools and resources of the Planetshire approach in more detail.

 

You might be interested in the two previous blog posts on the EDUCATION pathway to a Sustainable University, which establish the landscape for the Planetshire approach to integrating sustainability across the curriculum:

 



 

References

 

Beringer, A. and Adomssent, M. (2008) Sustainable university research and development: inspecting sustainability in higher education research. Environmental Education Research, 14(6), pp.607-623.

 

Blake, J. and Sterling, S. (2011) Tensions and transitions: effecting change towards sustainability at a mainstream university through staff living and learning at an alternative, civil society college. Environmental Education Research, 17(1), pp.125-144.

 

Hopkinson, P., Hughes, P. and Layer, G. (2008) Sustainable graduates: linking formal, informal and campus curricula to embed education for sustainable development in the student learning experience. Environmental Education Research, 14(4), pp.435-454.




The Sustainable University One-stop Shop:
Satellite websites: News and Information | Research | Good Practice | Quotes | Blog | Diary | Micro-blog (Twitter)

Monday 21 October 2013

Opportunities for integrating sustainability across curricula (Part 2 of EDUCATION pathway to a Sustainable University)


The previous post looked at the first of the six pathways to a sustainable university, namely Education, Research, Outreach, Operations, Culture and Institution. This post is the second part of the previous post, on Education. Today, let’s consider the opportunities available in universities for integrating sustainability across their curricula, embracing both content and pedagogy.


 

When curriculum is mentioned, what comes usually to our mind is the formal curriculum. However, there exist other curricula that offer opportunities for embedding sustainability. An example is the three-curriculum approach, comprising formal, informal and campus curricula (Hopkinson et al 2008).

The diagram, showing the key links, indicates how the three curricula fit into a typical university model adapted from the 4-C model comprising campus, curriculum, culture and community (Blake and Sterling 2011).

In this framework, the first opportunity is the formal curricula. Literature indicates five approaches to integrating sustainability into formal curricula:

§  Including some environmental coverage in an existing course (Lozano 2010)

§  Adding modules to existing courses (Minguet et al 2011)

§  Embedding sustainability at the whole programme level (Roberts and Roberts 2008)

§  Developing new courses (Lozano 2010, Lukman et al 2009)

§  Developing a new discipline (Sibbel 2009)

 

Note: The last approach above, i.e. developing a new discipline (e.g. ‘Sustainability Science’), will be discussed in detail in a future blog post on the Research Pathway.

 

Turning to formal curricula, a number of studies have demonstrated that sustainability could be linked virtually to any discipline or programme (Hopkinson et al 2008) and a list of ESD (Education for Sustainable Development) teaching opportunities in conventional disciplines, ranging from Agriculture (e.g. organic food) to Tourism (e.g. green travel) is available from Chalkley and Sterling (2011).

 

The second opportunity is informal curricula. Informal curricula exist outside their formal counterpart and are largely student driven, voluntary, open to all and non-credit bearing; they involve activities that influence the wider student experience and examples include volunteering, internships, clubs and societies and events (Hopkinson et al 2008). This is an effective way to harness students’ potential for sustainability locked in their kinship to the environmental movement (Helferty and Clarke 2009) and their passion for sustainability (Beringer and Adomssent 2008).

 

According to Lipscombe (2008), the extra-curricular sphere has much potential to advance sustainability because of the following strengths: (1) being an interface between curriculum, campus and community (2) its subject neutrality and openness for internal and external influences, so it is not defended as in the case with formal curricula (3) its fluidity facilitates changes quicker than those in formal curricula. Another source of rich sustainability potential is spiritually-oriented service learning (Podger et al 2010).

 

The third opportunity is campus curricula. Campus curriculum is the use of campus environmental management and sustainability as an educational resource for supporting students’ learning about sustainability (Hopkinson et al 2008). Campus sustainability projects have potential to enhance pedagogy because they give access to local, hands-on, experiential education (Savanick et al 2008). Moreover, campus curricula can tap into a rich source of sustainability leverage points hidden in two interlocking subsystems (i.e. academia and operations) of universities (Beringer and Adomssent 2008), whose divide is well known (Djordjevic and Cotton 2011). Therefore, campus sustainability projects facilitate linking of operations and academia while using operations as an educational resource (Savanick et al 2008). Moreover, engaging external stakeholders in such projects can improve the projects while strengthening the university-community relationship (Savanick et al 2008).

 

The next post, the third part of the Education pathway, will outline a practical programme for integrating sustainability across the curriculum of a typical university.




Useful Resources

Books and Reports

2014 (to be published)

BOOK:Higher Education and Sustainable Development: A model for curriculum renewal, by Desha, C. and Hargroves, K.

2013

BOOK: The Sustainable University: Progress and prospects, by Sterling, S., Maxey, L. and Luna, H. (editors)


2009


2008

BOOK:Journeys around Education for Sustainability, by Parker, J. and Wade, R. (editors)

2005

BOOK: Values in Higher Education, by Robinson, S. and Katulushi, C. (editors)

2004

BOOK: The Sustainability Curriculum: The Challenge for Higher Education, by Blewitt, J. and Cullingford, C. (editors)

2003

BOOK: Key Issues in Sustainable Development Learning: A Critical Review, by Gough, S. and Scott, W. (editors)


2001

BOOK: Sustainable Education – Re-visioning Learningand Change (Schumacher Briefing No 6), by Sterling, S.

1996

BOOK: Education for Sustainability, by Huckle, J. and Sterling, S. (editors)


Websites, web pages & blogs

Education for sustainable development (HEA)
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/education-for-sustainable-development

Sustainability Education - The University of Gloucestershire

Guide to Quality and Education for Sustainability in Higher Education - Leading Curriculum Change for Sustainability: Strategic Approaches to Quality Enhancement project

Education for sustainable development (ESD) – The Higher Education Academy

Greener Curriculum: Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) – National Union of Students (NUS)

Embedding Sustainability into Teaching, Learning and Curriculum in the learning and skills sector - Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS)

Embedding sustainable development in the curriculum- EAUC

A Pedagogy for ESD? - Bill Scott's blog

Sustainability and Pedagogy – Center for Teaching, Vanderbilt University, US

Effective pedagogy in education for sustainability - Te Kete Ipurangi (TKI), New Zealand

Resources on Sustainability Curriculum - Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education


References & Bibliography


Beringer, A. and Adomssent, M. (2008) Sustainable university research and development: inspecting sustainability in higher education research. Environmental Education Research, 14(6), pp.607-623.

 

Blake, J. and Sterling, S. (2011) Tensions and transitions: effecting change towards sustainability at a mainstream university through staff living and learning at an alternative, civil society college. Environmental Education Research, 17(1), pp.125-144.

 

Chalkley, B. and Sterling, S. (2011) Hard times in higher education: the closure of subject centres and the implications for education for sustainable development (ESD). Sustainability, 3, pp. 666-677.

 

Djordjevic, A. and Cotton, D.R.E. (2011) Communicating the sustainability message in higher education institutions. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 12(4), pp. 381-394.

 

Helferty, A. and Clarke, A. (2009) Student-led campus climate change initiatives in Canada. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 10(3), pp.287-300.

 

Hopkinson, P., Hughes, P. and Layer, G. (2008) Sustainable graduates: linking formal, informal and campus curricula to embed education for sustainable development in the student learning experience. Environmental Education Research, 14(4), pp.435-454.

 

Lipscombe, B.P. (2008) Exploring the role of the extra-curricular sphere in higher education for sustainable development in the United Kingdom. Environmental Education Research, 14(4), pp.455-468.

 

Lozano, R. (2010) Diffusion of sustainable development in universities' curricula: an empirical example from Cardiff University, Journal of Cleaner Production, 18, pp.637-644.

 

Lukman, R., Krajnc, D. and Glavic, P. (2009) Fostering collaboration between universities regarding regional sustainability initiatives – the University of Maribor. Journal of Cleaner Production, 17, pp. 1143-1153.

 

Minguet, P.A., Martinez-Agut, M.P., Palacios, B., Pinero, A. and Ull, M.A. (2011) Introducing sustainability into university curricula: an indicator and baselines survey of the views of university teachers at the University of Valencia. Environmental Education Research, 17(2), pp. 145-166.

 

Podger, D.M., Mustakova-Possardt, E. and Reid, A. (2010) A whole-person approach to educating for sustainability. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 11(4), pp.339-352.
 


Roberts, C. and Roberts, J. (2008) Starting with the staff: how swapshops can develop ESD and empower practitioners. Environmental Education Research, 14(4), pp. 423-434.

 

Savanick, S., Strong, R. and Manning, C. (2008) Explicitly linking pedagogy and facilities to campus sustainability: lessons from Carleton College and the University of Minnesota. Environmental Education Research, 14(6), pp.667-679.

 

Sibbel, A. (2009) Pathways towards sustainability through higher education. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 10(1), pp.68-82.


The Sustainable University One-stop Shop:
Satellite websites: News and Information | Research | Good Practice | Quotes | Blog | Diary | Micro-blog (Twitter)