Purpose
– Inquiry-based approaches can potentially enrich sustainability learning in any educational context, more so in open and distance learning (ODL – perceived as theoretically inclined) and in regions of educational need (such as the Global South, of which Africa forms part). The purpose of this paper is to map the benefits and challenges of using inquiry-based learning (IBL), with reference to ODL and the value added by IBL in terms of education for sustainability (EfS) in Africa.
Design/methodology/approach
– Evidence-based reflection is used to provide a narrative assessment of the experience gained with IBL in two undergraduate sustainability-focussed modules in the Department of Geography at the University of South Africa (Unisa), an ODL provider in Africa and the Global South.
Findings
– Consideration of enabling and limiting factors indicates that although constraints are experienced, adoption of IBL approaches holds potential as pedagogic for EfS in Africa, due to grounding of learning in theory and applied to local places/contexts. This indicates a role for IBL to change perceptions regarding the lack of practical utility of ODL.
Originality/value
– Implementing place-based and contextual IBL is innovative in ODL. It adds value to learning experiences and supports transformative learning, both important components of EfS and addressing a need in the African context. Practitioners will find the experience gained with implementation of IBL, coupled with possibilities associated with information and communication technologies, of value.
Abstract.Renewed interest is being shown in South Africa in the promotion of infrastructure for renewable energy (RE) to supplement the country's current energy-generation capacity and to break loose from its dependency on an unsustainable fossil-fuel-based energy-provision system. The latter system not only has unfavourable consequences for the environment, but is managed by a state-owned institution which since 2008 has been incapable of providing reliable electricity. RE infrastructure -especially for the generation of solar and wind energy -is a relatively new feature in the South African landscape. This paper examines the spatial distribution of the newly commissioned infrastructures for wind and solar energy (operational and under construction) and the role they can play in the diversification of the rural economies of parts of the country's Northern Cape, Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces. First, literature on evolutionary economic geography, path dependence and new path creation is reviewed. Second, the role of a single energy provider -embedded in a monopolistic energy policy -in inhibiting the transition from a mainly fossil-fuel-based energy-provision system to a multi-source (multi-owner) provision system is discussed. Third, the reasoning behind the siting of the infrastructures for solar and wind energy in three particular provinces is explained. Fourth, the possible roles these new infrastructures can play in the diversification of the rural economies where they occur are advanced. The paper concludes that solar-and wind-energy projects have the ability to transform the South African energy context and that these projects present some positive socio-economic impacts for rural economies in the three particular provinces. The paper also recommends that future research efforts should be aimed at the evolution of this socio-economic transformation by taking into account the pre-development context of the areas under study.
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