RESEARCH LABS

Topic: Co-creative, transformative learning environments

Time: Day 2 (7 September), 13.00-14.00 CET

Room: FR-0.01

The topic sustainability has gained increasing importance in recent years, among companies, the government and citizens. Initiatives such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the European Green Deal should stimulate the transition to a sustainable society. Also education plays a crucial role in making society more sustainable. The modernisation of secondary education in Flanders shows that sustainability is given an more important role. Attention to sustainability is important within various disciplines and should not be limited to science courses. The theme is also important in economics education for example, as it are often students who study economics that later have job positions by the government or in companies that allow them to make policy decisions. At the 'Unesco World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development in 2021', transformative learning was cited as one of the approaches to ‘teach’ about and for sustainability if we want to ensure our survival and that of future generations. But how to teach in a transformative way in secondary education? What is the impact of teaching in a transformative way? And how to measure transformative learning? In our project ‘Transformatie in de klas’ we try to figure it out together with seconday school teachers. Do you want to join this research workshop to investigate it together with me?

Topic: Moving from learning about to learning for and as sustainability

Time: Day 2 (7 September), 13.00-14.00 CET

Room: FR-0.02

How can higher education institutions foster and learn from students’ engagement in the science-society dialogue? I would like to share with you our research results focussing on how to address the boundary between science and society to support the transformation of higher education towards sustainable development in the sense of the whole institution approach. Let us explore together the potential of students’ learning experiences in self-led sustainability projects outside formal curricula.

Topic: Rethinking the (economics) curriculum

Time: Day 2 (7 September), 13.00-14.00 CET

Room: FR-0.03

As the popularity of entire management programs dedicated to ethics, responsibility, and sustainability (ERS) themes grows, there is need for schools to understand the most salient dimensions on which such programs are structured as they begin to (re)develop such programs in their curricular repertoire. In this research project, we distilled the defining attributes of ERS-related management programs to offer such a blueprint for schools (re)designing such programs. We were inspired by our own journey(s) in creating curricular program(s), and the lack of overarching frameworks in the literature to help in the development process. Making explicit the different ways in which such a program could manifest is helpful for business schools during discussions to develop such programs. After our presentation of the conceptual framework and analysis that led to the delineation of salient dimensions, we will invite participants to engage in a mapping exercise for reflection of their own program(s) and envisioning possible future evolutions of it based on this research.

Topic: Moving from learning about to learning for and as sustainability

Time: Day 2 (7 September), 13.00-14.00 CET

Room: FR-0.04

Using the results of a discourse analysis of 4,585 academic publications as a starting point, in this session we will explore and discuss the implications of different understandings of "the sustainable university" regarding the framing of sustainable development, the understanding of what a university is or should be, and what happens in practice. To finalize the session, we would explore alternative understandings of the sustainable university, in addition to the ones the discourse analysis brought to the fore.

Topic: Co-creative, transformative learning environments

Time: Day 2 (7 September), 13.00-14.00 CET

Room: FR-0.06

Are you interested in transformative learning experiences and do you want to contribute to making transformative learning environments even more transformative? We present the thesis lab, a place where students from different disciplines and universities work on a transformative learning experience in practice. And we will assess with you on how we can best evaluate and improve this transformative learning approach.

Topic: Moving from learning about to learning for and as sustainability

Time: Day 2 (7 September), 13.00-14.00 CET

Room: FR-0.09

University lecturers play a key role in the holistic implementation of education for sustainable development (ESD). In order to provide adequate professional development for them, their predispositions need to be taken into account. In this research lab, we will therefore look at a study among lecturers in Germany that examined the lecturers' prior knowledge and individual attitudes regarding ESD. We compare the results with the participants' experience. How can heterogeneity be addressed and how can we best profit from this heterogeneity?

Topic: Rethinking the (economics) curriculum

Time: Day 2 (7 September), 13.00-14.00 CET

Room: FR-0.13

First impressions are everything. Most students who take up an introductory economics course are taught a basic, and standardized story. Econ101 students are expected to learn to 'think like an economist' but this intuition can prove treacherous. There is a growing chasm between Econ101 and the research frontier. This has led to a global movement of students seeking change. In this keynote we present a technique that uses natural language processing to track the changing face of introductory textbooks. The evidence shows that the time has come for a critical and pluralist revolution.

Topic: Co-creative, transformative learning environments

Time: Day 2 (7 September), 13.00-14.00 CET

Room: FR-0.14

“What do I do to take care of myself? And what helps me to take of the planet?” These two questions were asked in Summer 2021 within a photovoice project to diverse academic and non-academic members of a Portuguese faculty to start the dialogue about inner and outer sustainability under the lens of ethics of care (Ives et al. 2020, Moriggi et al. 2020). The initiative was embedded in the creation of a new space of collaboration, co-creation and transformative learning: the CareLab for People and Planet at NOVA School of Science and Technology, NOVA University Lisbon. In this session, the accompanying research and its findings will be presented using a storytelling approach, eventually with audiovisual material, including also reflective moments for the audience to pause and engage in (guided) self-reflection and also moments of exchange in pairs.

Topic: Moving from learning about to learning for and as sustainability

Time: Day 2 (7 September), 13.00-14.00 CET

Room: FR-0.15

Two of the most important recent developments in the incorporation of sustainability in HEIs’ curricula have been the research on sustainability competences, and the use of pedagogical approaches to develop the competences. Recent discourses have focussed on how educators use pedagogical approaches to develop such competences, which has begun to develop a sustainability competences paradigm. This action atelier builds upon the results from a survey which was sent to 4,099 European HEI educators.