Perspectives on Sustainability in Higher Education: Inviting and Leveraging Change

Perspec'vesonSustainabilityinHigherEduca'on:Invi'ngandLeveragingChange

VivianNealandJanetPivnick

This morning we will consider:

•  what is sustainable development and education for sustainability? •  what they mean for post-secondary education •  what you might do within your sphere of influence

Sustainable Development

•  meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.* •  balancing environmental, social and economic factors *Brundtland, G., Our Common Future, 1987

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Education for Sustainability

•  education that helps people understand the issues involved in planetary sustainability •  relevant to the learner and their immediate surroundings •  interdisciplinary, multi-methodological

Education for Sustainability

•  experiential •  holistic, values-driven •  participatory and collaborative •  concerned with the development of knowledge, skills, values, attitudes and behaviors

What is Education for Sustainability

Gavin Watson, Associate Director, eLearning, Teaching Support Centre, Western University

What is Education for Sustainability

Trish O’Connor, Academic Lead, Office of Sustainability, Fleming College

Find a Learning Space

•  Find a space, inside or outside, and spend about 20 minutes there.

•  Consider how you might use this space for teaching and/or for student learning, accounting for: •  some of the ideas discussed here about EfS, •  your own discipline(s), and •  your own experiences of teaching and learning

Break

The Challenge for Higher Education

“The real need is to change from transmissive towards transformative learning, but this in turn requires a transformed educational paradigm.” “The mainstream emphasis on cognitive learning, with a little ‘values education’ thrown in, is simply insufficient to meet the challenge.” (Sterling, S., 2001 & 2011)

Examples of Programs/Initiatives

Jean Marcus, Associate Director, Teaching and Learning, UBC Sustainability Initiative


Gavin Watson, Associate Director, eLearning, Teaching Support Centre, Western University


Trish O’Connor, Academic Lead, Office of Sustainability, Fleming College

Some Thoughts

•  multiple and flexible approaches to supporting ESD •  each institution, department, discipline or faculty member works in a unique way

References Barlett, P. & Rappaport, A. (2009) Long term impacts of faculty development

programs: The experience of Teli and Piedmont, College Teaching, 5(2) 73-82 Spr 2009. Brundtland, G., (1987) Our common future: Report on the world commission on environment and development, UN. Centre for Sustainable Futures (CSF) (2008) Sustainability policy (http//www.csf.plymouth.ac.uk/?p=policy, accessed Sept 2012) Sterling, S. (2012) The future fit framework: An introductory guide to teaching and learning for sustainability in HE, York UK:HEA Sterling, S. (2011) Transformative learning and sustainability: sketching the conceptual ground, Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 5 17-33, 2011 Wenger, E., McDermott, R., and Snyder, W. (2002) Cultivating Communities of Practice, Boston MA:Harvard Business School Press

Questions?

Vivian Neal, MET, PEng [email protected]