Sustainability additional resources

Blog posts, podcasts and videos; University training, networks and signposting; External toolkits, guidance and websites; and journal articles and book chapters.

Blog posts

'How is what and how I am teaching adequate for the times we are living in?' Blog post from the IAD’s Prof Vel McCune on teaching in a time of ecological crisis.

'Embedding systems thinking and sustainability into learning and teaching': Embedding sustainability competencies into our lives.

'Using diverse and creative methods to teach about sustainability': Work in the School of GeoSciences related to sustainability.

Teaching Matters' mini-series on Social Responsibility and Sustainability.

Videos

'Pedagogies of care and hope for wicked problems' (16 mins): An overview of the ways that different pedagogies might contribute to thinking about wicked problems.

University of Edinburgh Learning and Teaching Conference 2021 - Keeping the door open: Curating, developing and evolving Edinburgh University teaching in spaces and spaces within the city and beyond' (59 mins). A recorded workshop exploring how to use different spaces and places for teaching in Edinburgh.

University of Edinburgh Learning and Teaching Conference 2022 - Shaping sustainable futures panel (53 mins), by Dave Gorman, Beth Christie, Matthew Lawson and Mallory Widdis.

University of Edinburgh Learning and Teaching conference 2023 - 'Experiential, Collaborative and Contemplative Pedagogies for Innovative Curriculum Themes: Environmental Sustainability, Wellbeing, and Wicked Problems' (30 mins): This is the closing conference panel.

5 Practical actions to embed environmental sustainability: Poster, by Lucy Patterson. With the help of the Environmental Sustainability in the Curriculum working group, this poster suggests 5 actions teachers of any subject can take to embed sustainability in their course along with case studies of them in practice.

Training

University of Edinburgh Introduction to Sustainability training course (1 hour): An hour-long online training course that provides insight into what the university is doing as part of its commitment to sustainability.

Carbon Literacy training from the Department of Social Responsibility and Sustainability at the University of Edinburgh. The course takes place over a day, offered online and face-to-face, and provides an understanding of climate science and the impact of actions in terms of carbon emissions.

Biodiversity Literacy training from the Department of Social Responsibility and Sustainability. Open to staff and students and designed to support action and awareness to halt the loss of nature.

Learning for a Sustainable Future: Live at COP27: A University of Edinburgh MOOC exploring sustainability hosted on Future Learn.

Networks

University of Edinburgh Community of Practice for climate, nature and sustainability. This network is open to university staff and students. You can sign up to the Teams channel on the webpage.

Sustainability in Education Research Group: A research group for staff based in Moray House School of Education and Sport who want to understand and address Sustainability in Education.

Signposting

Outdoor and nature-based learning: A new site developed by leading experts in outdoor and nature-based education, designed to support educators to take more of their learning outdoors.

Visit the University's 'Sustainability' homepage to find out more about what is happening across Edinburgh in relation to sustainability.

Decolonising sustainability: A reading list from the Business School on 'Decolonising sustainability'.

Guidance

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) guidance document, Advance HE (49 pages): A guidance document produced by Advance HE that explores how to build ESD into teaching and learning.

Learning objectives for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UNESCO (62 pages): A useful guide for staff looking to incorporate the SDGs into teaching and learning.

Toolkits

Co-Designs ESD App: An app that provides access to a range of case studies from universities around the world on the ways that they are embedding sustainability into their curriculum. Staff can upload their own examples too.

Sustainable University College London (UCL): Resources created by University College London to support the embedding of sustainability.

Napier, EnHance Quick Guide to Sustainability: Resources created by Napier University to support the embedding of sustainability.

Plymouth 7 Steps to Embedding Sustainability in the curriculum (2015): Guidance document on how to embed sustainability created by University of Plymouth.

Websites

Quality Assurance Agency Collaborative Enhancement Projects: Projects by universities around the UK working to embed sustainability into the curriculum.

Advance HE Framework for Education for Sustainable Development: A new framework designed to support institutions to build sustainability into the learning experience of all students.

Journal articles

Facer, K. 2019. Storytelling in troubled times: what is the role for educators in the deep crises of the 21st century?, Literacy, https://doi.org/10.1111/lit.12176.

Misiaszek, G. & Rodrigues, C. 2023. Six critical questions for teaching justice-based environmental sustainability (JBES) in higher education, Teaching in Higher Education, 10.1080/13562517.2022.2114338.

McCune, V., Tauritz, R., Boyd, S., Cross, A., Higgins, P., & Scoles, J. 2023. Teaching wicked problems in higher education: ways of thinking and practising. Teaching in Higher Education, 28(7), 1518–1533. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2021.1911986.

Sterling, S. 2021. Concern, Conception, and Consequence: Re-thinking the Paradigm of Higher Education in Dangerous Times, Frontiers in Sustainability, Vol 2. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsus.2021.743806.

Books and book chapters

Beames, S., Higgins, P., Nicol, R., & Smith, H. 2023. Outdoor Learning Across the Curriculum: Theory and Guidelines for Practice. (2nd ed.) Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003010890.

Escobar, A. 2018. Designs for the Pluriverse: Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds. Durham: Duke University Press.

This article was published on 2024-11-06