Development and Delivery of a Sustainable Development …
467
1.1 Institutional Context
In 2005, the SDU was introduced to the optional curriculum at the University of
Bristol and made available to students from many disciplines across the university.
The unit was taught by a multi-disciplinary team and received a national teaching
award in 2007 in recognition of its innovative nature (Hoare et al. 2008). Ten years
later, as part of the wider Bristol Futures (BF) project to enhance the curriculum
and student experience (Michalopoulou et al. 2019; Walsh et al. 2020), the unit
was redesigned in a way which preserved the original interdisciplinary approach
but increased accessibility to students by incorporating blended and problem-based
learning approaches.
The SDU was (re-)designed with four core aims:
• To present the SDGs and, through them, develop a broad understanding of the
challenges of SD and how different disciplines can provide insight into how they
may be addressed.
• To invite comparisons and contrasts of experience across different SD challenges.
• To help students appreciate the problems and tensions in the application of SD
ideals in practical circumstances.
• To introduce students to the experience of inter-disciplinary working focused on
a specific challenge.
1.2 Pedagogy
From conception to delivery, the SDU is based on the recognition that both teaching
staff and enrolled students do not just interact with and impact upon the peoples and
environments in our immediate vicinity. Rather, they are connected to wider systems
that affect the world as a whole. This is expressed through the interdisciplinary design
of the SDU, which recognises that SD is multi-faceted, incorporating environmental,
social and economic elements. This design allows for exploration of global challenges
through a systems thinking approach. The design of the SDU is guided by a wider
concept of global citizenship which refers to the “rights and responsibilities… duties
and entitlements” (Davies 2006: 6) one has at a global level.
The SDU was designed to encourage students to take their criticality into their
other units and everyday lives. The skill of criticality—and the related ability to
approach and solve complex social and environment problems—is a key challenge
to teach. In order to instil criticality, the course utilises the Vygotskyan principle of
scaffolding, which refers to “the temporary assistance that teachers provide for their
students to assist them to complete a task or develop new understandings, so that they
will later be able to complete similar tasks alone” (Hammond and Gibbons 2019:
9). Employing scaffolding has been especially important as both staff and students
enter each topic with different knowledge levels.
467
1.1 Institutional Context
In 2005, the SDU was introduced to the optional curriculum at the University of
Bristol and made available to students from many disciplines across the university.
The unit was taught by a multi-disciplinary team and received a national teaching
award in 2007 in recognition of its innovative nature (Hoare et al. 2008). Ten years
later, as part of the wider Bristol Futures (BF) project to enhance the curriculum
and student experience (Michalopoulou et al. 2019; Walsh et al. 2020), the unit
was redesigned in a way which preserved the original interdisciplinary approach
but increased accessibility to students by incorporating blended and problem-based
learning approaches.
The SDU was (re-)designed with four core aims:
• To present the SDGs and, through them, develop a broad understanding of the
challenges of SD and how different disciplines can provide insight into how they
may be addressed.
• To invite comparisons and contrasts of experience across different SD challenges.
• To help students appreciate the problems and tensions in the application of SD
ideals in practical circumstances.
• To introduce students to the experience of inter-disciplinary working focused on
a specific challenge.
1.2 Pedagogy
From conception to delivery, the SDU is based on the recognition that both teaching
staff and enrolled students do not just interact with and impact upon the peoples and
environments in our immediate vicinity. Rather, they are connected to wider systems
that affect the world as a whole. This is expressed through the interdisciplinary design
of the SDU, which recognises that SD is multi-faceted, incorporating environmental,
social and economic elements. This design allows for exploration of global challenges
through a systems thinking approach. The design of the SDU is guided by a wider
concept of global citizenship which refers to the “rights and responsibilities… duties
and entitlements” (Davies 2006: 6) one has at a global level.
The SDU was designed to encourage students to take their criticality into their
other units and everyday lives. The skill of criticality—and the related ability to
approach and solve complex social and environment problems—is a key challenge
to teach. In order to instil criticality, the course utilises the Vygotskyan principle of
scaffolding, which refers to “the temporary assistance that teachers provide for their
students to assist them to complete a task or develop new understandings, so that they
will later be able to complete similar tasks alone” (Hammond and Gibbons 2019:
9). Employing scaffolding has been especially important as both staff and students
enter each topic with different knowledge levels.