Search

Digital storytelling and participatory video (PV) are closely linked since they share common objectives, development tools, and methodologies. They are not just informative but purposefully aim to empower, educate, and activate people toward building a more sustainable and just society. This chapter describes both digital storytelling as a tool and as a teaching and learning methodology applied in an Erasmus+ project in Southeast Asia. It has been revealed that the interaction between digital technology and education for sustainability creates new opportunities to address sustainability, as well as new challenges. The teachers trained produced digital storytelling/PV applications that can be categorized as “authentic” learning activities addressing issues in the “real world.” It was widely assumed that teachers involved in this process learned to view teaching and learning from alternative ways, feeling ownership and control of their own learning and experiencing a sense of contribution to society and the environment.

This paper explores the ways in which a participatory curriculum planning model could help to address the embedding of an education on sustainability into higher education institutions; this is enabled by ICTs and is in particular reference to Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Transforming university curricula in order to address sustainability has been tackled effectively through the development of a participatory curriculum planning model that was applied in seven higher education institutions. The interventions carried out by the ICTeEfS initiative have contributed significantly to producing a corpus of university teaching staff in each partner university which, in turn, has initiated curriculum revisions to address sustainability, mostly in teacher education.

This article focuses on the two key concepts relevant for today's COVID-19 pandemic: responsibility and co-responsibility, and their relationship to education for sustainability. The two concepts a...

The displacement of thousands of people from countries facing war and violence has resulted in a refugee crisis that most host countries were not prepared to cope with. As a significant number of t...

Quantitative and qualitative approaches to planning and evaluation in education for sustainable development have often been treated by practitioners from a single research paradigm. This paper discusses the utility of mixed method evaluation designs which integrate qualitative and quantitative data through a sequential transformative process. Sequential mixed method data collection strategies involve collecting data in an iterative process whereby data collected in one phase contribute to data collected in the next. This is done through examples from a programme addressing the 'Reorientation of University Curricula to Address Sustainability (RUCAS): A European Commission Tempus-funded Programme'. It is argued that the two approaches are complementary and that there are significant gains from combining both. Using methods from both research paradigms does not, however, mean that the inherent differences among epistemologies and methodologies should be neglected. Based on this experience, it is recommended that using a sequential transformative mixed method evaluation can produce more robust results than could be accomplished using a single approach in programme planning and evaluation focussed on education for sustainable development.

This paper presents the design and development of a virtual learning enviroment (VLE) for a M.Sc. programme on information and communication technologies (ICTs) in education for sustainable development (ESD) driven by a learning paradigm that merges three theories of learning, namely: experiential learning, constructivist learning and transformative learning (ExCon- Tra) funded by the European Commission. Learning activities were designed to offer the chance for students to interact asynchronously and synchronously, negotiate meaning and reflect on their learning and viewpoints through collaborative problem solving. The ExConTra learning process is also based on an interdisciplinary approach addressing the four pillars (environment, society, culture and economy) of sustainable development and makes use of an online course design methodology that uses four phases: needs analysis, curriculum design, development and formative evaluation. The VLE that encompasses both the curriculum programme and the online platform with its tools and online technologies merges ICTs with ESD in three ways: a) providing opportunities to target groups for reflective practice; b) using open source ICT tools and ESD-related learning objects available in the Web and c) using ICTs to develop interactive, interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary ESD learning activities

The sustainability crisis that the world is facing needs a new paradigm in teaching, learning and curriculum contrasted to the one dominated in the 20th Century. A critical and emancipatory perspective of problem-based learning (PBL) enabled by information and communication technologies (ICTs) may contribute to this shift. In this paper, we extend beyond the focus on the 4Cs to what we term 10Cs, which in turn drives our approach to a PBL model that can provide a mechanism for transforming teaching, learning and curriculum towards building a more sustainable society. The well-known classic 4Cs skills (communication, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking) is transformed to 10Cs transversal skills including, critical consciousness, connectivity, critical reflection, co-responsibility, cros/inter-cultural understanding and constructing knowledge. The 10Cs transversal skills are then integrated into the six key processes of our interdisciplinary PBL model and the six pillars of global learning goals for 21st century that can be enabled by ICTs and a specially developed graphic organizer, To clarify our instructional-learning approach we use the controversial topic of ‘smoking ban’ as an example.

This article discusses the basic instructional design and curriculum perspective applied in the development of an online Master of Science programme in the field of ICT in Education for Sustainable Development. First, a brief overview of the instructional design theories as they are used in the field of web-based distance education is provided. Second, the major philosophical ideas of curriculum perspectives as they relate to the instructional design theory adopted and education for sustainability are addressed. In the end it is discussed how the preferred instructional and learning design has been applied to online course development.

The present study examined the perceptions of Jordanian and Greek pre‐service teachers (N = 489) towards the ‘Other’ as well as towards tolerance and intolerance. Frequencies, t‐tests and one‐way analysis of variance, as well as multiple regression analyses, were performed for the data analysis. The results show that although the two national/religious groups differ in terms of fears based on their religious views, when country substitutes religion there are no significant differences. Although differences were found with respect to nationalistic perceptions and global‐mindedness perceptions (globalism), no statistically significant differences were found between the two groups in terms of tolerance and intolerance perceptions. Non‐school books and television played an important role in developing perceptions of tolerance and intolerance.

Developing and Applying a Critical and Transformative Model to Address ESD in Teacher EducationA reflective case study approach, including focus interviews, reflective/reflexive journals and analysis of project-based works of 30 pre-service teachers participating in an undergraduate course was employed to investigate the discrepancy between the teachers' constructivist conceptions and the actual practice. The identified discrepancy seemed to be an outcome of the difficulty translating constructivism into teaching practice, but also of the misleading conception of constructivism as a homogeneous philosophy. Through reflective practice, participants were able to deconstruct and reconstruct their theories and practices of teaching in more emancipatory ways addressing issues of education for sustainable development (ESD). This case study helped understand the nature of change process towards teaching and learning for more sustainable futures.

Ο Καταστατικός Χάρτης της Γης, προϊόν ενός παγκόσμιου δεκαετούς διαπολιτισμικού διαλόγου πάνω σε κοινούς στόχους και αξίες, είναι ένα όραμα και μια διακήρυξη ηθικών αρχών για την οικοδόμηση μιας δίκαιης, βιώσιμης και ειρηνικής παγκόσμιας κοινωνίας για τον 21ο αιώνα. Η πρωτοβουλία του Καταστατικού Χάρτη της Γης, για δύο σχεδόν δεκαετίες έθεσε τις βασικές αρχές για ένα βιώσιμο τρόπο ζωής με έναν ολιστικό τρόπο. Η παρούσα εργασία επιχειρεί να συνδέσει τον Καταστατικό Χάρτη της Γης με την έννοια της βιώσιμης δικαιοσύνης. Βρέθηκε ότι και οι τέσσερις διαστάσεις της βιώσιμης δικαιοσύνης, δηλαδή: η κοινωνική δικαιοσύνη, η περιβαλλοντική δικαιοσύνη, η οικονομική δικαιοσύνη και η πολιτισμική δικαιοσύνη αντανακλώνται σε όλο το κείμενο του Καταστατικού Χάρτη της γης και συνδέονται με το βασικό όραμά του.

Dealing with problems of environmental, economic and social concern emphasis is placed on developing learners’ interdisciplinary and action competence to participate actively in building more sustainable futures. Higher education is called to play a critical role in this process. This paper deals with a European Commission funded programme CLIMASP that aims to develop interdisciplinary minors in climate change and sustainability policy in 10 Middle-Eastern universities. In this chapter, we present the results of the pre-test and post-test surveys that were carried out during the piloting phase in the spring semester of 2014–2015 academic year. Our aim was both to test reliability and validity of learning models as well as to examine possible changes during the implementation process. The statistical analyses show that the instruments are reliable, although improvement and enrichment is possible as well as increased changes experienced by students at the end of the piloting courses.

The environmental, economic, and social crises we are increasingly confronted with locally and globally, including climate change, ozone depletion, biodiversity loss, and also economic and social issues, such as poverty, social inequalities, violation of human rights, gender inequalities, loss of indigenous knowledge, etc. call for changes in the ways we think, work, and act. In this context, a course dealing with intercultural communication and sustainable leadership that is part of a M.Sc. programme on ICT in Education for Sustainable Development has been developed and is studied in this chapter. The course puts emphasis on the most urgent and critical social, environmental, and economic challenges facing the world and explores how leaders from education, business, government and civil society are responding to global/local sustainability challenges. In particular, it elaborates on the nature of sustainability leadership and how it can contribute to transformational change. It does this by locating sustainability within the leadership literature and presenting a model of sustainability leadership that integrates three complementary types of leadership, namely: distributed; entrepreneurial and transformational. The course also examines the importance of sustainable leadership practices within organisations (e.g. schools, business, NGOs, public) and assess the potential benefits if institutions are more actively engaged in sustainable leadership practices. It explores how intercultural communication can contribute to positive change for sustainability and discusses that new theoretical frameworks are needed to better understand effective transformational leadership. It also elaborates how cultural orientations and intercultural communication competence affect the full range leadership framework and transformational leadership dimensions. This course is delivered through a Virtual Learning Management System (VLMS) based on Moodle open LMS.

Higher education plays a unique and critical role, one often underestimated and/or neglected in making a more sustainable society. This paper deals with the development of an interdisciplinary minor programme on climate change and sustainability policy across 10 universities in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. It is a European Commission funded programme led by the University of Crete, Greece. Climate change is one of the most pressing issues affecting all regions in the world and especially the Middle East and Mediterranean region which is the focus of this paper. The climate change topic should shift from a strict disciplinary orientation focused on natural sciences to a science, educational, economic and sociological orientation. The evolved CLIMASP initiative is designed to develop, implement and assess interdisciplinary minors that aspire to meet the needs of climate change education and sustainability policy.

Our world faces considerable environmental, economic, social, and cultural challenges that need to be met at various levels. Responses to calls for curriculum revision to address sustainability, although very critical, are often slow and superficial. In this paper, it is argued that a participatory action and transformative learning approach toward engaging academics in curriculum change for sustainability is needed. The chapter describes the Reorient University Curricula to Address Sustainability (RUCAS) methodological approach aimed at engaging university staff in sustainability curriculum change at 12 universities. It also describes its underpinning theoretical assumptions, the research facts, and the critical curriculum design considerations.

The present paper refers to a comparative study of Social Representations (SRs) for a sample of 1207 Greek and Jordanians primary school pupils (653 from Rethymnon city of Greece and 554 from Zarka city of Jordan). The data were collected through an open-ended questionnaire. Conceptually, three directions of images or social representations were formulated; positive, neutral and negative. The results clearly show that the direction of images for both samples was moved towards neutral SRs, as depicted by the quantity of statements. The study also revealed that the main source of information about their social representations to each other was the school for the Jordanian pupils and television for the Greek pupils.