Karel F. Mulder, Jordi Segalàs and Didac Ferrer‐Balas
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the process of changing engineering universities towards sustainable development (SD). It outlines the types of changes needed, both in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the process of changing engineering universities towards sustainable development (SD). It outlines the types of changes needed, both in respect of approaches, visions, philosophies and cultural change, which are crucial for engineering universities which want to implement sustainable development as part of their progammes.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper describes various experiences which show how SD education programmes can be implemented at universities, and some of the challenges faced in efforts towards achieving such a goal. It considers the various processes involved and raises some questions which can help to understand how universities, as learning organisations, can engage in the implementation of SD programmes.
Findings
The paper has established that engineers have to learn to think long term and position their activities in a pathway towards long‐term sustainable solutions. This requires insight into the social environment of engineering as a technology, and the extent to which engineers should know about the intricacies of SD problems.
Originality/value
The paper shows that engineers should understand the complexities of the societal setting in which they are developing solutions, and the complexities of making short‐term improvements that fit into a long‐term SD.
Details
Keywords
Karel F. Mulder, Didac Ferrer, Jordi Segalas Coral, Olga Kordas, Eugene Nikiforovich and Kateryna Pereverza
This paper aims at identifying factors that could contribute to the motivation of students in sustainable development (SD) education. The underlying idea of the paper is that SD…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims at identifying factors that could contribute to the motivation of students in sustainable development (SD) education. The underlying idea of the paper is that SD education is not always as attractive among students and lecturers as many would like it to be.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper briefly reviews literature regarding behavioral change for long-term benefits. It identifies four motivators that could be effective to make people pursue longer-term objectives. It identifies if these motivators were present in five cases of successful SD education.
Findings
The four motivators for students that were identified in the literature review (a sense of autonomy, a challenge of reflection on the future role, connection with others, self-fulfillment, focus on the individual learning need) could be observed in the cases of successful SD education, although to various degrees. Individual autonomy in learning was not observed, but group autonomy was present in all cases.
Research limitations/implications
The case studies were all electives. It is unclear how the motivators could work out in mandatory courses. Moreover, the curriculum as a whole will affect the success of single courses. Successful courses being “the exception” of the curriculum might be judged differently if they would be part of the curriculum in which such courses would be the main stream. Further research is required to check if the motivators are effective in mandatory and not specifically SD-targeted courses. It is also not clear how various motivators could be applied most effectively in a curriculum.
Practical implications
The paper gives guidance to lecturers and educational managers to design attractive and effective SD education.
Originality/value
The paper treats SD education from a novel perspective: how to convey a credible behavioral message, and how to motivate students for education for SD.
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Jordi Segalàs, Karel F. Mulder and Didac Ferrer‐Balas
The purpose of this paper is to study how experts on teaching sustainability in engineering education contextualize sustainability; also to evaluate the understanding of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study how experts on teaching sustainability in engineering education contextualize sustainability; also to evaluate the understanding of sustainability by engineering students. The final aim is to evaluate what pedagogy experts believe provides better opportunities for learning about sustainability in engineering education.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used conceptual maps (cmaps) analysis with two taxonomies of four and ten categories. The first taxonomy clusters the significance of sustainability in environmental, technological, social and institutional aspects and shows the main trends; the second (of ten categories) divides the previous categories into greater detail. To evaluate the experts' cmaps two indices were defined that provide information about what experts think sustainability is most related to and evaluate how complex they see the sustainability concept. In total, 500 students from five European engineering universities were then surveyed and the results compared with those of the experts. Finally, interviews were held with experts to try to determine the best pedagogy to apply to achieve learning around sustainability.
Findings
The results show that Engineering Education for Sustainable Development (EESD) experts consider that institutional and social aspects are more relevant to sustainability than environmental and technological ones. The results were compared with the understanding of sustainability by a sample of more than 500 engineering students who had taken courses on sustainability at five technical universities in Europe. This comparison shows a mismatch among the EESD “experts'” and the students' understanding of sustainability, which suggest that sustainability courses in engineering degrees should emphasise the social and institutional aspects versus environmental and technological ones. Moreover, courses should emphasize more the complexity of sustainability.
Originality/value
The paper emphasizes the lack of priority that social and institutional aspects are given in sustainability courses and promotes a discussion about how these two elements and complex thinking can increase their importance in the engineering curriculum.
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Keywords
The slogan “Practice what you preach” denotes that people should behave in accordance with the values that they preach. For universities that teach sustainable development (SD)…
Abstract
Purpose
The slogan “Practice what you preach” denotes that people should behave in accordance with the values that they preach. For universities that teach sustainable development (SD), it implies that these institutes should apply major SD principles themselves for example by campus greening, green purchasing, etc. But is not “Practice what you preach” a questionable slogan in that regard that university teachers should not preach values, i.e. transfer values to their students by the authority of their position? Which value statements are acceptable and which are not?
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents the results of a survey among international SD teachers in engineering on the acceptability of value laden statements. Moreover, the paper presents results regarding the values that SD teachers represent, and compares these results to survey results among engineers and engineering students.
Findings
SD teachers in engineering are more critical about the role of technology in SD than their students and professional engineers are. However, there does not seem to be a real gap between students and teachers.
Practical implications
It is argued that academic education on SD should aim at clarifying moral issues and helping students to develop their own moral positions given the values that are present in the professionals' work. Teachers' options how to address moral issues without preaching are briefly described.
Originality/value
This paper strongly argues against preaching.
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Cheryl Desha, Savindi Caldera and Deanna Hutchinson
This study aims to explore the role of planned, sudden shifts in lived experiences, in influencing learner capabilities towards improved problem-solving for sustainable…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the role of planned, sudden shifts in lived experiences, in influencing learner capabilities towards improved problem-solving for sustainable development outcomes. The authors responded to employers of engineering and built environment graduates observing limited “real-life” problem-solving skills, beyond using established formulae and methods, in spite of attempts over more than two decades, to train engineers and other built environment disciplines in areas such as whole system design and sustainable design.
Design/methodology/approach
A grounded theory approach was used to guide the analysis of data collected through ethnographic methods. The process involved reflecting on authors’ efforts to develop context appreciation within a course called “International Engineering Practice”, using two years of collected data (archived course information, including course profile; completed assessment; lecture and field visit evaluations; and focus groups). The study is built on the authors’ working knowledge of Bloom’s Taxonomy and Threshold Learning Theory, and the well-established role of “context appreciation” in complex problem-solving. After the first iteration of the course, the authors looked for additional theoretical support to help explain findings. The Cynefin framework was subsequently used to augment the authors’ appreciation of “context” – beyond physical context to include relational context, and to evaluate students’ competency development across the four domains of “clear”, “complicated”, “complex” and “chaotic”.
Findings
This study helped the authors to understand that there was increased capacity of the students to distinguish between three important contexts for problem-solving, including an increased awareness about the importance of factual and relevant information, increased acknowledgement of the varying roles of professional practitioners in problem-solving depending on the type of problem and increased appreciation of the importance of interdisciplinary teams in tackling complex and complicated problems. There were several opportunities for such courses to be more effective in preparing students for dealing with “chaotic” situations that are prevalent in addressing the United Nations’ 17 sustainable development goals (UNSDGs). Drawing on the course-based learnings, the authors present a “context integration model” for developing problem-solving knowledge and skills.
Research limitations/implications
The research findings are important because context appreciation – including both physical context and relational context – is critical to problem-solving for the UNSDGs, including its 169 targets and 232 indicators. The research findings highlight the opportunity for the Cynefin framework to inform holistic curriculum renewal processes, enhancing an educator’s ability to design, implement and evaluate coursework that develops physical and relational context appreciation.
Practical implications
The study’s findings and context integration model can help educators develop the full range of necessary problem-solving graduate competencies, including for chaotic situations involving high degrees of uncertainty. Looking ahead, acknowledging the significant carbon footprint of global travel, the authors are interested in applying the model to a domestic and/or online format of the same course, to attempt similar learning outcomes.
Originality/value
Connecting Bloom’s taxonomy deep learning and threshold learning theory critical path learning insights with the Cynefin framework context domains, provides a novel model to evaluate competency development for problem-solving towards improved holistic physical and relational “context appreciation” outcomes.