Search results

Recognising that there is increasing urgency to equip graduates to become future leaders in delivering the sustainable development goals (SDGs), this study presents a critical analysis of a whole-institution approach to embedding education for sustainable development (ESD) in curricula. This study aims to explore the wider reach of adopting a similar approach within varied professional practices and institutional settings.

The approach is mixed-methods action research framed within a revised institutional strategy. The authors place this in the wider context of ESD in higher education.

Embedding ESD in curricula and recognition of its relevance across all disciplines were important to stakeholders. These outcomes translated into strategic commitments. Within the first year of the strategy, Carbon Literacy was embedded in almost 20% of courses and in progress in a further 25%; ESD was embedded in 42% of courses and in progress in a further 7%; and over 80% of students agreed with the statement “My course provides me with the opportunities to gain knowledge and skills relating to sustainable development”.

This work demonstrates effective measures that can be amplified across the sector, framed by two overarching principles that are effective regardless of context: demonstration that sustainability adds value to academic activities and consultation and co-creation to build a shared vision and support for change.

This study aims to investigate the main areas in which researchers are focusing their efforts in terms of sustainability in higher education (curriculum, campus greening, research, governance or outreach), the format in which this research is performed (in terms of individual or combined efforts) and the primary research focus (in terms of local or global issues).

Trends on sustainability research were investigated by means of an online survey – the World Survey on Sustainability Publishing and Research in Higher Education, which was disseminated among members of the European School of Sustainability Science and Research and the Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme.

The survey collected responses from 103 researchers across over 40 countries. Three trends emerged: in spite of the intrinsic value of sustainability research in higher education, this area is not as mature as one could expect; the range of themes covered is wide and addresses a variety of areas; and individuals working alone is the most common means of doing research, whereas research at the university, department and faculty level appears to be less common.

The paper outlines some measures via which higher education institutions may be able to take more advantage of the many opportunities sustainability research offers to them.

THE Wanstead Library is just round the corner from the shopping centre in the High Street where the old shop branch existed for many years. The new Library is a large, single‐storey structure with floor to ceiling windows facing Christchurch Green, a charming open space with well established trees. This spacious, attractive building is in complete contrast to the cramped accommodation previously occupied and local reaction has been emphatically favourable.

IN 1846, Charlotte Brontë was attempting to find a publisher for the sisters' first book—a selection of their poems. It was a bad time for poetry. In the earlier years of the century it had flourished remarkably with the rise of Scott and Byron, whose popularity brought record sales, but by the 1840s the demand had declined, and while prose fiction had a reasonable market, poetry was unwanted. Even the arch‐publisher of Victorian poets, Edward Moxon, was not keen to undertake the Poems (1844) of the established Elizabeth Barrett, and showed some reluctance even in the publication of Wordsworth. By 1848 Charlotte had come to appreciate ‘that “the Trade” are not very fond of hearing about poetry, and that it is but too often a profitless encumbrance on the shelves of the bookseller's shop’. It is little wonder, therefore, that of 1846 she later wrote: ‘As was to be expected, neither we nor our poems were at all wanted…. The great puzzle lay in the difficulty of getting answers of any kind from the publishers to whom we applied.’

The purpose of this paper is to review selected publications in library-related literature and discuss the thematic approach to course design in colleges and universities and how it has been implemented into information literacy (IL) courses.

A literature review of peer-reviewed journals, professional journals, magazines and blogs contextualizes the thematic approach to instruction at the college and university levels. Search terms included “thematic approach”, “thematic approach in education” and “theme-based instruction”; the search was restricted to articles published in the past 20 years.

In addition to the IL courses, thematic-based instruction has been used in biology, chemistry, English, French literature, history, mathematics, philosophy and sociology courses in college and university campuses. While instructors report that the thematic approach enhances student learning, few studies have directly tested the impact. No studies have been published within the library science literature.

Thematic approach is a newer concept in the world of IL instruction. While many professional journal articles and blog posts provide in-depth case studies of how thematic-based instruction has been implemented, this article draws from all disciplines and features a succinct summary of what works, what does not work and how to best implement a thematic approach in an IL course.

Coming close upon the Report of the Symposium which considered possible toxicological dangers of cosmetics and toilet preparations, held in London last November by the European Committee on Chronic Toxicity Hazards (“Eurotox”), the decision recently announced in the Commons by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Science of the Government‐aided British Industrial Biological Research Association to undertake research to ascertain if toxic hazards exist from colouring matters used in lipsticks, is a small beginning. This prompts the question of how long before “cosmetics” will be added to “food and drugs” in this country as it was in U.S.A. in the nineteen‐thirties. At present there is practically no statutory control over the constituents used in the manufacture of these commodities, the manufacture and sale of which have increased enormously in recent years.

One of the newest crimes to be put on the books is stalking, usually defined as repeatedly being in the presence of another person with the intent to cause emotional distress or bodily harm after being warned or requested not to do so. Stalking must be done over a period of time to indicate a pattern or continuity of purpose. Threats against a person or person's family may be stated or implied in stalking. Stalking victims are followed and harassed at work, at school, and at home. Stalking can also be done electronically, either using computers to send harassing e‐mail messages or by jamming telefacsimile machines with unwanted transmissions. There have been numerous high‐profile stalking cases that gained a great deal of publicity and focused attention on stalking. “Celebrity stalking” cases came to the public's attention in 1982 when actress Theresa Saldana was stabbed by a stalker. In 1989 actress Rebecca Schaeffer was shot and killed by a man who had stalked her for two years. In the 1990s the assault on skater Nancy Kerrigan, television talk shows and movies, and nonfiction works on stalking, including cases that ended with the death of the stalking victim, have focused public attention on this issue.