Sustainable Development and Educational Innovation: Wicked Challenges across the Disciplines

1
Sustainable Development and Educational
InnovationWicked Challenges across the
Disciplines!

• Rosemary Tomkinson, Teaching Support and
  Development

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Sustainable Development and Educational Innovation

• The Ultimate Challenge (TRDN 2002)
• Global issues (eg Brundtland)
• Need for professionals to take a lead
• Need for higher education to recognise this
• Not just environmental societal etc
• Need for professional to work with other
  professionals of different discipline

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Sustainable Development and Educational Innovation

• A 10-credit pilot course unit
• Sponsored by Royal Academy of Engineering
• Inter-disciplinary
• Student-centred
• Enquiry-based

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Sustainable Development and Educational Innovation

• Advisory Groups
• What do we mean by SD? Tasks of 21stC Engineer
• Skills needed to do this
• Case studies and assessment
• Evaluation and monitoring

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Sustainable Development and Educational Innovation

• Development of scenarios
• Wicked problems no right answer
• Two-week problems
• Introduce second part of week 1
• Discussion of progress/further work in week 2
• Feedback in first half of week 3
• Cumulative learning but need for variety

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Sustainable Development and Educational Innovation

• Problems
• Wheels Sustainability definitions, tools and
  techniquesCorporate attitudes Understanding
  stakeholders perspectives.
• Shelter Impacts of natural disasters on
  communitiesStakeholder co-operation
  Infrastructure and logisticsCultural etc
  differences Sustainable design.
• Rules Implementing change via
  regulationImpact of environmental regulation
  Impact on supply chainMinimising life cycle
  impacts.
• Energy Implementing change through new
  technology Cost-benefit analysis Barriers to
  new technology Infrastructure support for new
  technologies.
• Procurement Implementing change through
  company policy Supply chain management
  Assessing sustainability Benchmarking.

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Sustainable Development and Educational Innovation

• The groups
• Oversubscribed had to select
• Drawn from EEE, MACE (Civil and Mechanical) and
  SEAES
• Groups of eight, drawn from 4 disciplines
• Use of CEEBL space

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Sustainable Development and Educational Innovation

• The facilitators
• Oversubscribed
• Drawn from CEAS, Chemistry, Computer Science,
  EEE, MACE and SEAES
• From Australia (by way of Italy), Canada, Greece,
  Iran, Poland and the UK
• Trained in advance weekly development

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Sustainable Development and Educational Innovation

• Nominal Group Process
• Both students and facilitators
• Enables individuals concerned to highlight
  matters of interest and concern to them
  questionnaire approach focuses on issues that are
  of relevance to the project team.

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Sustainable Development and Educational Innovation

• Nominal Group Process
• Students viewed the most positive aspects of the
  pilot unit as being
• Working in groups
• Multi-disciplinary teams
• Relevant real-life problems
• Independent learning/learning from others
• Less positive aspects included some of the
  structural issues, eg 2-hour session starting at
  9am deadlines for written work ambivalence was
  demonstrated with regard to coursework assessment

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Sustainable Development and Educational Innovation

• Nominal Group Process
• Facilitators viewed the most positive aspects of
  the pilot unit as being
• Imaginative, varied tasks.
• Problem based learning.
• Communication skills and group learning.
• The less positive aspects included the narrow
  range of disciplines represented and the role of
  the two stand-by facilitators.

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Sustainable Development and Educational Innovation

• Innovations
• Interdisciplinary
• Use of Advisory Groups
• Problem-based intractable problems
• PDRA facilitators
• NGP and other evaluations
• Variety of assessment method