Academic Freedom, Bureaucracy and Procedures: The Challenge of Curriculum Development for Sustainability

Molthan‐Hill, Petra; Dharmasasmita, Aldilla; Winfield, Fiona

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-23705-3_9

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Besides these barriers, others suggested by the scholarship include: a dearth of support from university leadership (Weiss et al , 2021); internal priority setting that did not emphasize sustainability (Weiss et al , 2021); a campus vision that fails to adequately incorporate sustainability vision (de la Harpe and Thomas, 2009); scant organizational structures devoted to sustainability (such as sustainability committees) (Avila et al , 2017); inadequate professional development on sustainability (Thomas and Nicita, 2002); a paucity of interdisciplinary collaboration (Adomßsent et al , 2019; Trechsel et al , 2018); a dearth of interdisciplinary competence (Vargas et al , 2019); the absence of interdisciplinary spaces that would encourage interdisciplinary collaborations (Weiss et al , 2021); the highly specialized discipline-centered higher education system, which conspires against interdisciplinary collaboration (Bardaglio, 2007; Haigh, 2005); academic freedom, which some have used to defend their opposition to curriculum changes (de la Harpe and Thomas, 2009; Molthan-Hill, Dharmasasmita and Winfield, 2016); and an inflexible curriculum (Weiss et al , 2021). …”

Section: Results Phase 2: Accounting For the Lack Of Progressmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

How and why US universities fail to impart environmental literacy to all students

Vallée

2023

IJSHE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose This study aims to assess the spread of environmental literacy graduation requirements at public universities in the USA, and to highlight factors that mediate the adoption of this curriculum innovation. Design/methodology/approach The author analyzed the undergraduate general education curriculum requirements at all 549 public BA-granting higher education institutions in the USA between 2020 and 2022. Findings The study found that only 27 US public universities out of 540 have an environmental literacy graduation requirement, which represents 5% of universities and is substantially lower than previous estimates. Originality/value First, this study provides a more complete, more reliable and more current assessment of the graduation requirement’s presence at US tertiary institutions, and shows the number of universities that have implemented this innovation is lower than was estimated a decade ago. Second, it draws from the scholarship on the infusion of sustainability into the university curriculum to provide a comprehensive discussion of factors that mediate the pursuit and implementation of the graduation requirement. As well, it identifies factors that played a key role in one pertinent case.

show abstract

Section: Results Phase 2: Accounting For the Lack Of Progressmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…academic freedom, which some have used to defend their opposition to curriculum changes (de la Harpe and Thomas, 2009; Molthan-Hill, Dharmasasmita and Winfield, 2016); and…”

Section: Results Phase 2: Accounting For the Lack Of Progressmentioning

confidence: 99%

How and why US universities fail to impart environmental literacy to all students

Vallée

2023

IJSHE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…An additional way in which the participants become co-creators through crowdsourcing of sustainability solutions is through the activities they need to accomplish in the digital environment of the Certificate. As mentioned in Puntha et al (2015) and Molthan-Hill et al (2016), to progress through the Certificate, students complete a task in each session. While there are clear academic underpinnings to each task, this has also resulted in a pool of online videos, journal articles, professional and academic reading materials and blogs that address sustainability problems, which are collated for use as potential teaching materials.…”

Section: Students As Co-creators In Crowdsourcing Sustainability Solutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Aims (1) and(2) are addressed in detail in Puntha et al (2015) and Molthan-Hill et al (2016). The main objective of this paper is to address (3), and (4), first looking at student crowdsourcing of sustainability solutions before moving on to the fostering of sustainability skills.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Practical challenges and digital learning: getting the balance right for future-thinking

Dharmasasmita

Puntha

Molthan‐Hill

2017

OTH

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose: This paper aims to present a food-themed project at Nottingham Trent University, the Sustainability in Practice (SiP) Certificate, a supra-disciplinary approach involving a collaborative enquiry into food sustainability through a flexible online course open to all staff and students. The focus will be on the SiP Challenge Days. Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper will describe the pedagogical approach of the certificate's online and offline components, the various activities undertaken by participants and the digital tools employed to encourage collaboration and skills development. Findings: The Challenge Days have, so far, proven to be effective in inspiring students to be creative in solving sustainability challenges, especially through supradisciplinary collaboration. Research Limitations/Implications: This is a new project hence participation has been relatively small. However, organisation of Challenge Days for the next academic year is already in progress including two new themes. These additions should offer extra dimensions of experience for the participants as well as a richer future dataset. Social Implications: Through collaboration across disciplines, the students have a wider understanding of contemporary sustainably issues as they play a pro-active role in solving these current challenges. Originality/Value: The practice element of this online module and the crowdsourcing of sustainable solutions within SiP are described in detail in this paper. Special attention is given to how the design of SiP equips students with the skills needed to solve sustainable challenges.

show abstract

“…As far as past studies on sustainability in higher education are concerned, research has been carried out from several main perspectives. The first perspective has focused on management issues in sustainability of higher education which consists of topics such as sustainability assessment tools (Findler et al, 2018;Drahein, De Lima and Da Costa, 2019;Caeiro et al, 2020), sustainability reporting (Ana, Laura and Garcia-Benau, 2018;Coco, Remmer and Elisa, 2019;Sahar, Udo and Hossein, 2019), and challenges in managing sustainability in higher education (Molthan-Hill, Dharmasasmita and Winfield, 2016;Aleixo, Leal and Azeiteiro, 2018;Tormo-Carbo, Seguí-Mas and Oltra, 2018). The second perspective centers on the definition and elaboration of sustainable development competencies comprising those required by the university faculty in teaching the sustainability content and necessary competencies for student achievement (Grant, Lips-Wiersma and Soebagio, 2017;Foster and Stagl, 2018;Lavey, 2019) The third perspective is related to the implementation of higher education for sustainable development which addresses the purposes, scopes, and challenges of sustainable development associated with teaching and learning (Leal Filho and Dahms, 2018;Molderez and Fonseca, 2018;Michel, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing Measures for the Effectiveness of Distance Education as Regards Sustainability: The Mixed Method Approach

Harizan¹,

Hilmi²

2021

Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Distance education has been acknowledged as a mechanism through which sustainable development can be achieved. The objective of the study is to develop the instrument that measures the effectiveness of distance education in inculcating sustainability among distance learners as the researchers have observed the absence of comprehensive and contextually appropriate measures for the effectiveness of distance education in nurturing sustainability. A mixed method research design was employed by following the six-phase sequential exploratory instrument development process. The quantitative validation of the instrument was done via a survey on 663 learners from the selected public universities in Malaysia. The SmartPLS 3 used by the researchers, produced a new 61-item measure of the effectiveness of distance education as regards sustainability. The findings have enabled the establishment of a comprehensive and contextually appropriate measurement tool applicable to a larger population of distance learners. It also provides an evaluation tool for practitioners in determining the effectiveness of distance education programs and courses that have led to the attainment of sustainability outcome among learners. Future studies may pursue further processes to improve the rigor and construct validation of the instrument besides uncovering other areas which are necessary to be incorporated in the scope of the measures.

show abstract

Academic Freedom, Bureaucracy and Procedures: The Challenge of Curriculum Development for Sustainability

Cited by 4 publications

References 33 publications

How and why US universities fail to impart environmental literacy to all students

How and why US universities fail to impart environmental literacy to all students

Practical challenges and digital learning: getting the balance right for future-thinking

Developing Measures for the Effectiveness of Distance Education as Regards Sustainability: The Mixed Method Approach

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About