Monday 4 November 2013

Outputs of the University of Planetshire Approach to integrating sustainability across the curriculum (Part 4 of EDUCATION pathway to a Sustainable University)























The previous post, University of Planetshire approach to integrating sustainability across the curriculum (Part 3 of EDUCATION pathway to a Sustainable University) http://su-notes.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/university-of-planetshire-approach-to.html, introduced an innovative approach, taking a fictitious UK University as an example. This post describes the suite of outputs – tools, resources and mechanisms – in more detail.

 

The proposed outputs of the University of Planetshire (UoP) Approach are broadly of three types:

§  Online tools and related resources

§  Other (non-online) tools, resources and mechanisms

§  The RCE Planetshire tools

 

These outputs would be developed innovatively using free resources (free website builders, social networking and PDF-MS word combination) as is the case with the UNEP-recognised Sustainable University One-stop Shop http://www.sustainableuni.kk5.org/.This three-year-old live experiment has been the basis of the UoP Approach.

 

All UoP outputs can be summarised as follows:

 

§  Online tools and related resources 

o   Planetshire Curriculum for a Sustainable Future

o   Satellite websites

§  Research for a Sustainable Future

§  Sustainable Campus

§  Green Ideas Bank

§  Sustainability in the Wider World

§  Light & Deep Sustainability

o   PDFs

§  Flier

§  Knowledge sheets

§  Newsletter

§  Annual review

o   Social networking

§  Project blog

§  ESD (Education for Sustainable Development) Reflective Diary blog

§  Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, YouTube (videos) and Flickr (photos)

§  Online Library (issuu.com)

§  Other (non-online) tools, resources and mechanisms

o   Help Desk

o   Publications

§  Academic papers

§  Press articles

§  Book

o   Notice boards

§  Subjects network

§  Interests network

§  Global regions network

o   Exhibitions

§  World Days exhibitions

§  Annual exhibition

§  RCE Planetshire tools

(RCE Planetshire’s website, news website and Twitter)

 

Each output is considered in more detail below:

 

The online tools and related resources 

 

Planetshire Curriculum for a Sustainable Future

§  Main pages: Home | ESD & Curriculum | Sciences | Social Sciences | Humanities | Industry

§  Online one-stop shop, central platform, education, informal curriculum, disciplines, ESD, employability, e-learning, marketing

§  A one-stop shop type central platform that would give access to all other online tools, resources and PDFs

§  Three main pages (Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities) would outline how main subject areas of UoP (e.g. Business, Sociology) relate to sustainability

§  Industry page would outline how professional bodies view sustainability in relation to employability

 

Satellite websites

 

Research for a Sustainable Future

§  Main pages: Home | Sustainability in HE & ESD | Sciences | Social Sciences | Humanities

§  Research, ‘hard’ approach, informal curriculum, community (local to global)

§  Full references to academic publications related to sustainability, giving links to abstracts (or papers themselves if available for free access)

§  Tags of four types – Subjects (e.g. Civil Engineering), themes (e.g. Poverty), author surnames and years of publication – would facilitate searching

 

Sustainable Campus

§  Main pages: Home | Sustainable Campus | Carbon | Energy | Waste | Water | Procurement | Transport | Biodiversity | Buildings

§  Operations, campus curriculum, interests pathway, good practice at campus, marketing

§  This website would extensively use photos to showcase good sustainability practice at UoP and also other universities worldwide

§  Tags of two types – Interests (e.g. Waste) and universities – would facilitate searching

 

Green Ideas Bank

§  Main pages: Home | Sustainable Campus | Carbon | Energy | Waste | Water | Procurement | Transport | Biodiversity | Buildings

§  Operations, campus curriculum, motivation, engagement, participation, Interests pathway

§  Students would submit ideas on how to make the campus more sustainable

§  Selected ideas would be on display (with their names)

§  Others could comment on them using unique twitter #hashtags

§  Best ideas would be recognised with prizes periodically (e.g. every term)

 

Sustainability in the Wider World

§  Main pages: Home (updates) | Africa | Asia | Australasia | Europe | Latin America | North America

§  Community (local to global), informal curriculum, ESD, Subjects pathway, Global regions pathway, CSR, (knowledge) marketing

§  Daily updates: news, features and blogs from (online) media worldwide

§  The six main pages would outline how global regions relate to sustainability

§  In selecting updates, priority would be given to those with clear links to UoP subjects 

§  Tags of four types – Subjects (e.g. Law), Interests (e.g. Carbon), Global regions (e.g. Africa) and themes (e.g. Politics) – would facilitate searching the daily updates stream on the home page

 

Light & Deep Sustainability

§  Main pages: Home | Quotes & sayings | Poetry | Folktales & myths | Anecdotes | Art

§  ‘Soft’ approach, education, ESD, informal curriculum, motivation, engagement, cultural knowledge

§  Although presented as ‘light’, this could be viewed as deep learning because it could engage the values domain, hopefully resulting in pro-sustainability behaviour change at some point

 

PDFs

 

Flier

§  Communication, marketing

§  One-off overview on the UoP Sustainability in the Curriculum project and its services

 

Knowledge sheets

§  Education, informal curriculum, campus curriculum, Subjects, Interests (e.g. Water), Global regions, themes (e.g. Food)

§  Four sets: Subjects, Interests, Global regions and themes (those not covered under Interests)

§  Awareness creation on sustainability themes (e.g. Climate Change) and how Subjects, Interests and Global regions relate to sustainability

§  Two-page A4 per topic (e.g. Biodiversity)

 

Newsletter

§  Communication, networking, marketing

§  A four-page quarterly

§  Also emailed to anyone when registered for an email list

 

Annual review

§  Communication, networking, marketing

§  A 20-page review published at the end of the academic year

§  Also emailed to anyone when registered for an email list

 

Social networking

 

Project Blog

§  Networking, communication, engagement, marketing

§  Creates awareness of the UoP Sustainability in the Curriculum project

 

ESD Reflective Diary Blog

§  ESD (Education for Sustainable Development), reflection, engagement, participation, networking 

§  Random reflections on ESD, presented as diary entries

§  Students, staff and alumni would be welcome to submit entries for publication

 

Twitter, LinkedIn, FaceBook, YouTube and Flickr (photos)

§  Networking, informal curriculum, education, communication, engagement, participation

§  An integrated and systematic social updates sharing scheme, directing users to the tools and resources of the UoP Sustainability in the Curriculum project (where applicable)

§  Social networking tools would be used to engage stakeholders and others

 

Online Library

§  Education, communication, networking

§  Created by using issuu.com

§  This would act as the single place where all PDFs and other publications of the project would be available for downloading

§  Publications would be stored here systematically for convenient retrieval (e.g. categorised into types, pathways, year of publication, etc)

 

Other tools, resources and mechanisms

 

Help Desk

§  One-to-one help for UoP stakeholders, guidance, information, networking, engagement, motivation

§  Provides guidance, information and networking opportunities to internal stakeholders on request, especially on how subjects relate to sustainability

§  Support would be provided via email, phone or personal appointments

 

Publications

 

Academic papers

§  Research, ESD, campus curriculum

§  Dissemination of the findings of the UoP Sustainability in the Curriculum project’s research study on how to integrate sustainability across the curriculum, taking UoP as the case

§  A means to engage with other universities worldwide on the endeavours of ESD and on integrating sustainability across curricula

 

Press articles

§  Education, disciplines, themes (e.g. globalisation), CSR, (knowledge) marketing, engagement, participation, UoP professionals’ expertise

§  Press articles on key sustainability themes written with UoP professionals (e.g. academics, researchers, managers) as resource persons

§  Would help UoP achieve a CSR goal of public education on sustainability while showcasing UoP expertise in the public domain

§  Indirect but effective marketing for student recruitment

 

Book

§  Research, ESD

§  A book, How to integrate Sustainability across a Curriculum of a University: Lesson from the University of Planetshire Approach, providing a set of guidelines, mainly based on the findings of the research study taking UoP as the case

§  Although mainly based on research, it would be written in simple language to engage non-academic staff and students  

§  Examples from other universities worldwide would also be included to illustrate points where appropriate

 

Notice boards

§  Awareness creation on how Subjects, Interests and Global regions relate to sustainability

§  They would provide students with green windows to ‘see’ the wider world as well as the campus

§  Located in key public places throughout the campus premises

§  Refreshed periodically (e.g. every term)

 

Subjects network

§  Disciplines, education, ESD, informal curriculum, discipline-based knowledge

 

Interests network

§  Interests (e.g. Energy), education, campus curriculum, scientific knowledge

 

Global regions network

§  Global regions, ESD, education, informal curriculum, cultural knowledge

§  Contributes to inclusion of international students in the UoP community by showcasing their global regions’/ cultures’ contribution to sustainability; hence an indirect marketing tool for international student recruitment

 

Exhibitions

 

World Days exhibitions

§  Education, informal curriculum, networking, motivation, engagement

§  Awareness creation on selected World Days (e.g. Water) in partnership with external stakeholders (e.g. local water supplier, Water NGOs)

§  Would also showcase related efforts at UoP (e.g. water conservation measures)

§  Open to general public (especially the local community)

 

Annual exhibition

§  Education, communication, networking, motivation, marketing

§  An event that creates awareness of and celebrates the UoP Sustainability in the Curriculum project

§  Open to general public (especially the local community)

 

RCE Planetshire

 

§  Education, informal curriculum, community (local to global), networking, motivation, internationalisation, global citizenship

§  If UoP is not situated in the region of an existing UK RCE, the university would benefit from setting up and leading an RCE as part of the UN University’s global RCE network (e.g. The RCE London http://www.londonrce.kk5.org).

§  Benefits of leading or actively participating in an RCE include:

o   Engagement and networking with the wider world – from the local community (including education providers, businesses, authorities and charities) to over 100 RCEs worldwide

o   Under informal curriculum, an RCE could facilitate local community-facing projects for students (e.g. with local businesses or NGOs)

o   An opportunity to use of UN branding for ESD-related events and initiatives because the logo of the RCE network contains the UN logo

§  RCE Planetshire tools: Main website, news website and Twitter

 

The next post will look at the feasibility of this innovative Planetshire Approach on integrating sustainability across the curriculum of a university. But will it really work?

 

Note:

This post is the fourth in the EDUCATION pathway to a sustainable university. The previous related posts are:

 

EDUCATION pathway to a Sustainable University (Part 1): curriculum content and delivery


 

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


 

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





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


 

No comments:

Post a Comment