Teaching Transformational Sustainability Science Teaching

Aims

In an article published in Science in 2007, Debra Rowe, President of the US Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development, formulates an inspiring vision for sustainability courses in higher education:
"Imagine what would happen if students were regularly exposed to real-world sustainability problems brought to campuses by cities, businesses, non-profits, and other institutions. If classroom exercises led to practical solutions, students would understand that they can have a positive impact on the world through their academic learning" (Rowe, D. (2007): Educating for a sustainable future. Science, 317(5836), p. 324).
However, given the high level of complexity, the knowledge required across academic and practical disciplines, and the long-term economic, social and environmental impacts that characterize sustainability issues, this vision of teaching is proving challenging, if not overwhelming. In addition, time and resource constraints limit the level of ambition that can be achieved in regular teaching practice, especially by younger researchers who face the challenge of combining their academic qualification with good teaching.

How could university teaching that takes this vision seriously look like? How, under the given condition, can we seek to pragmatically and repeatedly, implement appropriate elements in the classroom that work towards comprehensive problem analysis and sophisticated solutions i.e. that seek to promote transformative approaches in the truest sense of the word?
The hybrid course "Teaching Transformational Sustainability Science" aims to provide participants with a toolbox of different sustainability teaching methods and approaches that can be implemented as transformative interventions in sustainability courses.

Content

• Key competencies in sustainability in higher education
• Methods of transdisciplinary teaching and transformative research
• Co-Design and Co-Production of Knowledge

Methods

• Reflective and participatory methods
• Systems thinking, Futures thinking, Values Thinking, Strategic thinking, interpersonal- and collaborative approaches.

Target Group

All Doctoral Candidates, all Postdocs

About the Trainer

1. Dr. Marc Frick, Senior Researcher in the Social Transitions Research Group and project coordinator in the Eucor & EPICUR team at the University of Basel.
2. Dr. Antonietta Di Giulio, Head of the Research Group Inter- and Transdisciplinarity at the University of Basel
3. Dr. Rico Defila, Deputy Head of the Research Group Inter- and Transdisciplinarity at the University of Basel
4. Dr. Annika Sohre, Senior Researcher in the Sustainability Research Group and General Manager of the Sustainable Future Research Network at the University of Basel

Workload

16 h course attendance (5 x 1.5 h online & 2 x 4h in person), 4h preparatory reading and 8h post workshop assignments

Feature

Once registration is open, applications will be collected for 24 hours and course places allocated by lot. All registrations received after the initial 24h period will be put on a waiting list and assigned on a first come, first served basis.

Course places/places on the waiting list will be confirmed by e-mail. Course registrations can only be canceled before the registration period ends (send an e-mail to grace@unibas.ch). Full course attendance is mandatory. Participants who fail to attend a course without prior notification or withdraw after the registration deadline are subject to a fee of CHF 30. In addition, participants who cancel their course registration at a later point in time, are absent without an excuse or do not attend the entire course will, for reasons of fairness, not be considered for course registration in the following semester and will be removed from other courses offered in the same semester. Please find the detailed regulations on the Transferable Skills Homepage.