The wheel of fortune as a novel support for constructive alignment and transformative sustainability learning in higher education
International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education
ISSN: 1467-6370
Article publication date: 27 May 2021
Issue publication date: 2 July 2021
Abstract
Purpose
Education for Sustainability in Higher Education (ESHE) sits within and across disciplinary settings that share the need for a framework that provides a basis for pedagogy, assessment and learning outcomes (Kalsoom, 2019). ESHE strives to create transformative learning spaces that help students gain the knowledge and skills they need to understand and contribute to shaping a world based on communities living within the limits of earth’s resources. This paper aims to offer a novel solution to the challenge of teaching students from different disciplines struggling with the complexity of sustainability.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper explores the development of an interdisciplinary subject designed for undergraduate students from four faculties. It presents a case study of pedagogy that moves away from three pillars/concentric circles approaches towards practices based in systems thinking and interactive transformative learning. It describes the iterative process of developing and implementing an infographic: the “Sustainability Wheel of Fortune” (Wheel), to support constructive alignment of content, assessment tasks and learning outcomes.
Findings
The Wheel provides a holistic, interconnected and dynamic focus for framing content and teaching. The pedagogy aligns with sustainability competencies, builds in flexibility in response to changing times and student experiences and provides teachers and students with a common framework for interrogating the possibilities for sustainable futures.
Originality/value
The Wheel is a novel learning tool for contemporary sustainability education. It captures key elements of approaches to and concepts about sustainability, visually reinforces the idea of a holistic interconnected approach and provides a framework that supports the constructive pedagogy of an interdisciplinary sustainability subject.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Dr Kimberley James for the final critical reading and to the teaching team (including Dr James) and students who have contributed to this process over many years.
Citation
Noy, S., Capetola, T. and Patrick, R. (2021), "The wheel of fortune as a novel support for constructive alignment and transformative sustainability learning in higher education", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 22 No. 4, pp. 854-869. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-08-2020-0289
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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