Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore emerging synergies and tensions between the twin moves to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and online learning and teaching (L&T) in higher education institutions (HEIs). Design/methodology/approach A preliminary global exploration of universities’ SDG-based L&T initiatives was undertaken, using publicly available grey and academic literature. Across a total sample of 179 HEIs – identified through global university rankings and analysis of all 42 Australian universities – 150 SDG-based L&T initiatives were identified. These were analysed to identify common approaches to embedding the SDGs. Findings Five key approaches to embedding the SDGs into online (and offline) HEI L&T were identified: designing curricula and pedagogy to address the SDGs; orienting the student experience towards the SDGs; aligning graduate outcomes with the SDGs; institutional leadership and capability building; and participating in cross-institutional networks and initiatives. Four preliminary conclusions were drawn from subsequent analysis of these themes and their relevance to online education. Firstly, approaches to SDG L&T varied in degree of alignment between theory and practice. Secondly, many initiatives observed already involve some component of online L&T. Thirdly, questions of equity need to be carefully built into the design of online SDG education. And fourthly, more work needs to be done to ensure that both online and offline L&T are delivering the transformational changes required for and by the SDGs. Research limitations/implications The research was limited by the availability of information on university websites accessible through a desk-top review in 2019; limited HEI representation; and the scope of the 2019 THE Impact Rankings. Originality/value To date, there are no other published reviews, of this scale, of SDG L&T initiatives in universities nor analysis of the intersection between these initiatives and the move to online L&T.
This is the seventh book in an eight part series titled Schooling for Sustainable Development and provides a broad suite of perspectives, approaches, pedagogies, curriculum, desired competences, engagement strategies and case studies of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in an African context. In 2015, the United Nations launched the 2030 agenda for sustainable development with 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDG 4 Quality Education itself is key to achieving the 2030 agenda, the other 16 goals and the global challenges these goals seek to address (Holmes et al., under review). In this collection of studies, Lotz-Sisitka et al. ( 2017) bring together 30 leading researchers, practitioners and educators to showcase the diversity of approaches to ESD in Southern Africa.There are strong themes of transformation, innovation and change through the book with many chapters highlighting the need for radical shifts in how education is structured and delivered across levels with a strong focus on secondary schooling, in sustainability, environment and development fields. Two of the editors of the book, Lotz-Sisitka and Lupele, open in Chapter 1 by outlining the African context in which ESD emerges. They argue that SDG 4 and the 'quality lifelong education' it aims to provide for everyone 'remains poorly defined on the African continent' (p.5). This emphasises the entrenched impacts of colonisation on African peoples, knowledge systems and environments including poverty, inequality and the ongoing exploitation of natural resources (Lotz-Sisitka & Lupele, 2017). These consequences of European imperialism continue to remain embedded within globally mainstreamed approaches to ESD. Consequently, in Chapter 1 the authors emphasise the importance of grounding sustainability and environmental education within locally relevant and real-world contexts and in ways that foster and make space for traditional and Indigenous knowledges and ways of being to be centralised practices and foci. Along with social justice, these themes remain consistent threads throughout the book's 20 chapters. Chapter 1 also highlights the problems with the concept of ESD and the authors state 'we would normally prefer to use ESE (environment and sustainability education) : : : [as] notions of development under neo-liberalism and globalisation [can have] performative impacts on societies in the Global South' (p.3). While the authors highlight their opposition to the term ESD, it appears they decide to use it so as to align with the series' theme. Regardless of their choice of terminology, the chapter further emphasises the western-colonial nature of the dominant modes of sustainable development and their influence on important concepts within environmental and sustainability education.The book is divided into four parts: Part I -Orientation to Education for Sustainable Development, Schools in Africa and Learning Processes. This part provides the contextual grounding for the book, as discussed above, and delves into the situational aspects of...
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