Learning for transformation – special issue from the EESD’10 conference

Citation

Svanström, M. and Gröndahl, F. (2012), "Learning for transformation – special issue from the EESD’10 conference", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 13 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijshe.2012.24913caa.001

Learning for transformation – special issue from the EESD’10 conference

Article Type: Guest editorial From: International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Volume 13, Issue 3

Engineers are key players in the development of a more sustainable society. However, to be the change agents that are so urgently needed, they need to be equipped with a slightly different set of competences than today. They need to be able to envision, develop and implement truly sustainable solutions that respect the limitations of natural systems and promote human well-being. This requires that we also rethink how we educate engineers. Education for sustainable development (ESD) is today not only a vision at many technical universities, but also increasingly a demand from the industrial sector. More and more business opportunities are driven or generated by the need to overcome environmental or other sustainability problems. Many of the solutions are of technical nature, however, they cannot be implemented in a sustainable way, and sometimes not at all, without an understanding of the whole system that surrounds technology, i.e. the environment, the societal structures, and human beings. We need engineers that can provide new energy solutions based on sun, wind, waves and biomass. Our cities and transportation systems need to be adapted or rebuilt. But for this to happen, engineering education institutions need to take responsibility for educating the new engineer that has the capability to see solutions outside the pure technical solutions, and is able to communicate and cooperate with ecologists, economist and other important professionals and stakeholders.

In Gothenburg, Sweden, on the 19-22 of September, 2010, the Fifth Biannual International Conference on Engineering Education in Sustainable Development (EESD) took place, jointly organized by Chalmers University of Technology and the Royal Institute of Technology, KTH. The conference attracted about 150 delegates from 31 different countries, all continents represented, mainly from different engineering education institutions. The theme, learning for transformation, symbolized by butterflies in the conference logo, refers to the urgent shift that is needed towards a society that better addresses basic human needs and the limitations of natural systems, and the role of engineering education institutions in that transformation. If sustainable development becomes a framework for a redesign of engineering education and of engineering education institutions, the contribution of these will be very important.

The conference was set up so as to advance the international discussion on EESD. Input from delegates and invited speakers at the conference fed into discussions on workshops and in focus group meetings. Keynote presentations by invited speakers discussed reasons and methods for achieving transformation of engineering education and engineering education institutions. Arjen Wals and Mahshid Sotoudeh discussed the social process of learning, and John Holmberg the role of universities and how to achieve the much needed change in universities. The first paper in this special issue, with John Holmberg as one of the authors, illustrates the strategies that were used at Chalmers University of Technology to achieve this change. The keynote by Göran Carstedt discussed the role of leadership in achieving societal transformation, and Per Sandberg discussed the business perspective on the needed transformation, closing with a sharp remark on the too humble attitude among engineering education institutions in relation to their potential role. Karel Mulder concluded the conference by giving an exposé of themes and outcomes from the five EESD conferences that had been carried out, as well as remaining challenges, relating to, e.g. learning outcomes, curriculum change, assessment of learning, educational approaches and methods, legitimacy and motivation, campus greening and external cooperation. The last paper in this special issue, authored by Karel Mulder and others, concludes the whole special issue by giving more details on the remaining challenges.

Workshop sessions (six sessions and three in parallel at each occasion) were designed to focus on certain themes, e.g. strategies for embedding of ESD (exemplified by the paper by Svanström et al. in this special issue), introducing multi- and interdisciplinarity in teaching, problem-based learning and case study methodology (as reported by Dobson and Tomkinson), teaching for ethical responsibility, behavioral change and shifts of mind-sets (such as in the paper by Byrne), teaching and learning activities (discussed for a whole master programme in the paper by Cruickshank and Fenner) and key competences as seen by industry (as studied by Hanning et al.) and university teachers (such as in the paper by Segalàs et al., reporting on studies made during the EESD08 conference). Questions to be discussed and answered at each workshop session had been formulated beforehand by the scientific committee. Three to four paper presentations by delegates at each such session provided input to the discussion around the themes. Questions and answers, when they appeared, were posted on the wall at the meeting venue in order for delegates to see and comment on. This concept of questions and answers in relation to themes than ran through the conference was highly appreciated by the delegates.

Delegates also had the chance to suggest, before or during the conference, topics for focus group meetings. Nine such meetings took place, on topics such as humor in ESD, textbooks on sustainable development for engineers and Pedagogy for distance ESD.

The conference provided a much needed meeting place and discussion forum for teaching staff at technical universities and other stakeholders in EESD. The EESD conference series is not connected to any international organization but is handed over from university to university active in the informal EESD community. The organizing university arranges the conference according to its own ideas. It was discussed during the conference that there might be a need for a more formalized collaboration, with, for example, a group responsible for sending out a newsletter in between the conferences. No such decisions were made but the discussion on this will continue. The next EESD conference will be held in Cambridge in 2013.

The best presentation and best poster awards were all won by students, showing the importance of student contributions at the conference and for EESD at large. Best papers were selected by the scientific committee. These papers were resubmitted and reviewed by two referees and these papers are now presented in this special issue of the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. The papers give a good overview of current EESD activities and provide useful guidance to different actors in engineering education institutions working towards sustainable development. Looking forward to meeting you all in Cambridge!

Magdalena Svanström, Fredrik GröndahlGuest Editors