Improving group processes in transdisciplinary case studies for sustainability learning

Hansmann, Ralf; Crott, Helmut W.; Mieg, Harald A.; Scholz, Roland

doi:10.1108/14676370910925235

Cited by 8 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 17 publications

(14 reference statements)

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“…Defila et al, 2000; some of these competencies have been pointed out by others as well, e.g. Eagan et al, 2002;Godemann, 2006;Hansmann et al, 2009;Feng, 2012;Fortuin and van Koppen, 2015;Misra et al, 2015): • Being familiar with one's own disciplinary worldview. This relates not only to the perception of (pre-scientific) reality and to how objects of investigation and research questions are constructed, but also to the disciplinary body of knowledge, to the set of commonly used methods, to the values and epistemological interests, and to the social rules of one's own scientific community.…”

Section: Special Challenges Due To a Missing Transmission Of Knowledgmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enabling university educators to equip students with inter- and transdisciplinary competencies

Giulio

Defila

2017

IJSHE

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PurposeInter-and transdisciplinarity are core concepts in almost all ESD competence frameworks and curricula. To equip students with inter-and transdisciplinary competencies is highly demanding for educators. Educators must not only know how to teach students such competencies, but need to be experienced in inter-and transdisciplinary research and must have some technical knowledge about inter-and transdisciplinarity. The paper shows how university educators can be supported in their teaching. Design/methodology/approachThe paper is a case study based on research and on experiences in interdisciplinary teaching and in supporting educators in their interdisciplinary teaching. FindingsThe paper presents a competence framework of interdisciplinary competencies to guide university teachers that has been developed, implemented and refined in interdisciplinary study programmes belonging to the field of ESD. It shows how the professional development of educators could be addressed referring to the experiences in these programmes. The measures presented consist for one thing of interdisciplinary processes among the educators and of measures directly supporting educators in their teaching for another thing. Originality/valueThe case study the paper refers to is of special value first, because the experiences are based on long-standing research and on two decades of experiences. Second, because considerable efforts were made to deliver coherent and consistent interdisciplinary teaching in which interdisciplinarity was not only a teaching subject for the students but showed by the educators as well so that the educators involved did not only talk about competencies for inter-and transdisciplinary collaborations but also set an example in their own doings. KeywordsInterdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary teaching, teaching interdisciplinarity, teaching transdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary competencies Di Giulio, Defila -International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 18, Nr. 5 -1Enabling university educators to equip students with inter-and transdisciplinary competencies Abstract Purpose

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Section: Special Challenges Due To a Missing Transmission Of Knowledgmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enabling university educators to equip students with inter- and transdisciplinary competencies

Giulio

Defila

2017

IJSHE

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“…It did not only produce project proposals but also generated motivation amongst the participants to implement these projects [66,[74][75][76]. Our study enabled us to identify some process factors and mechanisms which presumably account for the instrumentality of the approach in initiating group processes that generate such tangible effects.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moving Universities: A Case Study on the Use of Unconferencing for Facilitating Sustainability Learning in a Swiss University

Wolf¹,

Troxler

Hansmann

2011

Sustainability

Self Cite

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Unconferencing is a method for organizing social learning which could be suitable to trigger sustainability learning processes. An unconference is defined as participant-driven meeting that tries to avoid one or more aspects of a conventional conference, such as top-down organization, one-way communication and power-relationships based on titles, formal hierarchies and status. This paper presents a case study on the application of unconferencing in a large Swiss university (ETH Zurich) where an unconference was conducted to engage students, academics, staff and external experts in a mutual learning process aimed at the development of project ideas for reducing its CO 2 emissions. The study analyzes how the unconferencing format initiated and promoted sustainability oriented group processes during the unconference, and in how far the projects which were developed contributed to a reduction of the university's CO 2 emissions.

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“…Case-based work is a practical way of organizing transdisciplinary research and teaching (Muhar et al 2006;Scholz et al 2006;Steiner and Posch 2006;Hansmann et al 2009). Transdisciplinary case studies can contribute to understanding of real-world problems and initiate collaboration between experts and community members, and students as young researchers can play a key role (Scholz and Tietje 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

UNESCO's Education for Sustainable Development Framework and the Reality of University–Community Cooperation in the Caucasus Mountain Region

Keryan

Mitrofanenko

Muhar

et al. 2020

Mountain Research and Development

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The project Transdisciplinarity for Sustainable Tourism Development in the Caucasus Region (CaucaSusT) initiated the integration of transdisciplinary approaches into partner universities in Armenia and Georgia. The aim was to develop cooperation between academics and nonacademic stakeholders from rural communities in the Caucasus mountain region. This paper uses the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) framework for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) beyond 2019 to reflect on the CaucaSusT project process and outcomes. We carried out qualitative research based on document analysis, individual interviews, and focus group discussions with participating students, teachers, and local stakeholders. The results are presented and discussed according to their relevance to the ESD framework's 5 priority areas. We conclude that the CaucaSusT project was successful in contributing to the priority areas of education and training, educators, and youth, but it contributed less to the priority areas of policy and communities within the short project lifetime. We found the UNESCO ESD framework was a useful tool for evaluating the project. Based on our analysis, we provide recommendations for successful ESD project design and implementation in the Caucasus mountain region.

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Improving group processes in transdisciplinary case studies for sustainability learning

Cited by 8 publications

References 17 publications

Enabling university educators to equip students with inter- and transdisciplinary competencies

Enabling university educators to equip students with inter- and transdisciplinary competencies

Moving Universities: A Case Study on the Use of Unconferencing for Facilitating Sustainability Learning in a Swiss University

UNESCO's Education for Sustainable Development Framework and the Reality of University–Community Cooperation in the Caucasus Mountain Region

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