In the wake of unprecedented environmental challenges, the role of academics in fostering sustainable practices within higher education has never been more critical. As educators and researchers, we have a unique opportunity to influence the next generation of leaders and professionals by embedding sustainability into our teaching and learning practices. When we model sustainability in our teaching and give students opportunities to think about sustainability in their professional practice, we can make a meaningful impact that extends well beyond the subjects we teach.
Design once, re-use again and again
One area where we can look at our own practices is in adopting a sustainable approach to resource creation and usage. In Achieving sustainability in learning and teaching initiatives (Brew & Cahir, 2014), the authors highlight the importance of designing learning materials that can be reused and adapted for different contexts. When we consider a ‘whole of course‘ approach to learning design, the conceptual and practical benefits make a lot of sense.
In practice, this can mean creating resources that can be used in multiple ways and across multiple subjects. For example, short videos explaining key concepts can be repurposed across different subjects or courses, ensuring longevity and adaptability. This not only conserves resources but also ensures that educational content remains relevant in a rapidly changing world, as only one artefact needs to be updated then can be deployed as needed.
Sustainability as an integrated topic
Another way to think about sustainability is to integrate sustainability topics into existing subjects. This may not be obvious for all subjects, however there are opportunities to include case studies on sustainable business practices in management courses or to discuss the environmental implications of technology in engineering or IT for example. The Sustainable Development Goals are not just about environmental issues but also social and economic sustainability – so how could you incorporate this into your subjects?
Strategic learning in workplaces: An example
I co-designed the subject 014162 Strategic Learning in Workplaces, in the Master of Education (Learning and Leadership) with Megan Spindler-Smith who worked as a learning and development leader in industry. A key area in strategy is sustainability and so this was something that we wanted to cover in our subject.
A subject like this is not necessarily a natural home for sustainability, so we needed to think about different ways to discuss it with students in the context of developing a learning strategy. The Sustainable Development Goals provided a useful way to do this through asking students to think about their learning strategies in terms of the three pillars of sustainability – economic, environmental, and social sustainability.
We created a module for sustainability within the subject which included:
- An academic reading about sustainable organisational learning;
- A short, podcast-style interview with a media industry practitioner about how they took up sustainability in their work (the interview itself was cut from a longer interview that had been done for the subject with parts of the same interview used across the subject as relevant – design once, re-use multiple ways!);
- Examples of economic, environmental and social sustainability in workplaces, and spaces for students to debate and discuss these concepts;
- A second brief interview with a different industry practitioner sharing how they support broader business objectives around sustainability through their own practices such as minimising travel.
Sustainable design, delivered in practice
Students were not just learning about sustainability in theory, but engaged with various examples in current organisational practice, and developed applications of the sustainability concepts for their own workplace scenarios as part of their final assessment for the subject. We have seen many students approach this topic with careful thought and creativity, weaving sustainability into their broader designs for an organisational learning strategy.
As educators, we have a great opportunity to lead by example and incorporate sustainable practices into our teaching and learning as well as to give students tools and concepts to think about sustainability in their future professional practice. The links throughout this post are also great examples of re-using resources, showing how much work is already happening in and around our UTS faculties. If you’re not sure where to start, there’s a good chance someone has taken the first step already – take a look and recycle some ideas of your own!