by Devon Cadwell Bazata, Martha Hubertz, Carlos Valdez
As instructional designers become more versed in sustainability concepts and their applications within their respective fields, they can inspire faculty, colleagues, and students alike. This can lead to a gradual but significant shift in the university’s culture, making sustainability a core value that permeates not just the curriculum but also campus operations and community engagement initiatives.
Abstract
The Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning (FCTL) at the University of Central Florida (UCF) recognized the growing emphasis on integrating sustainability education across diverse academic disciplines in higher education. While the connection to sustainability is evident in environmental studies, its relevance to fields such as economics or microbiology may be less apparent. Higher education institutions can be places of innovation for Sustainability to impact actual and future generations (Kohl et al., 2022). To address this challenge, FCTL established a faculty learning community (FLC) supported by instructional designers from the university’s Center for Distributed Learning, to explore innovative methods to incorporate the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across various disciplines and course modalities. Higher education involvement in the United Nations’ sustainable development goals is limited to training, providing opportunities for more active sustainability efforts (Kohl et al., 2022). This FLC brought together multiple departments to collaborate on developing sustainability-focused content and assignments suitable for online, blended, live streaming, and face-to-face courses with the content in their web courses. Actual frameworks in the literature for integrating sustainability in higher education lack an interdisciplinary approach (Michael, 2020). The initiative faced challenges in adapting materials for different class sizes and modalities while maintaining engagement and effectiveness. The timeliness and critical importance of this effort are underscored by the increasing focus on sustainability education at international conferences across all disciplines. This paper outlines the FLC’s approach, highlights key strategies developed for integrating SDGs into diverse curricula, and discusses the challenges and solutions identified by instructional designers to create adaptable, engaging content for various course formats. By sharing these insights, we aim to contribute to the broader conversation on how instructional designers and faculty can work together to seamlessly integrate sustainability content into courses, regardless of discipline or course delivery method.
Integrating Sustainability
Integrating sustainability into higher education curricula is a trend and a necessity in today’s rapidly changing world. If our role is to prepare our courses to guide students for life outside of academia, then we must integrate sustainability issues into our curriculum and instruction to raise student awareness and contribute to solving these challenges within their chosen field of study. The United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a comprehensive framework for addressing global challenges, and incorporating these into university courses can equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to tackle complex, interconnected issues in their future careers.
While it may seem overwhelming for the individual and institutional level, the solution we used for learning how to integrate sustainability was to form a faculty and instructional designer partnership as part of an FLC. In our community, we gathered weekly to discuss the ways we would integrate the social, environmental, and economic aspects of sustainability into our diverse set of courses spread across the disciplines. This approach not only distributes the workload but also fosters interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation in teaching and course delivery methods.
A faculty learning community that includes the contributions and support of instructional designers and is focused on sustainability can serve as a powerful catalyst for change within a university. Bringing together educators and instructional designers can facilitate the exchange of ideas, best practices, and resources for incorporating sustainability concepts into diverse curricula for faculty across their institution. Regular meetings and workshops can provide a supportive environment for to explore new teaching and content development strategies, develop interdisciplinary projects, and address challenges in implementing sustainability content and education.
One of the key benefits of this approach is its potential to create a ripple effect across the institution. As instructional designers and faculty become more versed in sustainability concepts and aware of their availability through Open Educational Resources, they can inspire colleagues and students alike. This can lead to a gradual but significant shift in the university’s culture, making sustainability a core value that permeates not just the curriculum but also campus operations and community engagement initiatives.
Additionally, this type of faculty and instructional designer partnership that is focused on the SDGs can help bridge the gap between academic theory and real-world application. By encouraging both instructional designers and faculty to use innovative approaches to incorporate sustainability content into their courses, including case studies, service-learning projects, and partnerships with local organizations that are working on sustainability issues, the foundation is laid for students to gain practical experience in addressing complex global challenges and apply it in their careers and personal lives. This hands-on approach not only enhances student engagement but also prepares them to be effective problem-solvers and change-makers.
Strategies
The following strategies for implementing this type of faculty learning community that includes a partnership with instructional designers are focused on sustainability and include a few of the potential challenges and solutions.
Strategies for Implementing a Sustainability-Focused Faculty and Instructional Designer Learning Community:
- Define what the community aims to achieve, such as developing new course modules or one assignment for integration into an existing course module, creating interdisciplinary projects, or establishing sustainability-related learning outcomes across curricula.
- Recruit diverse participants who are committed to the work of this type of initiative and do your best to ensure representation from various disciplines as this fosters cross-pollination of ideas and interdisciplinary approaches to sustainability education.
- Identify a leader of the community and work together to set regular meeting times each week that work with all community members. This organizational approach keeps the group focused, and scheduling consistent meetings helps to maintain momentum and offers structured opportunities for collaboration and learning.
- Create a digital space where members can share articles, lesson plans, instructional design approaches, and other resources related to sustainability education. Create a shell course within the Learning Management System (LMS) for the faculty and instructional designer learning community. This space is where collaboration occurs in an asynchronous manner.
- Based on this, create a list of tasks required to reach this outcome and delegate the work equally among the faculty and instructional designer learning community members.
- Members who develop and implement a sustainability-based assignment share their results and insights with the faculty and instructional designer learning community to measure the impact of sustainability integration on student learning.
Potential Challenges and Solutions
| Challenge | Solution |
|---|---|
| Lack of expertise in sustainability topics | Provide professional development opportunities that faculty complete during their scheduled meeting times, partner with sustainability experts, and encourage peer-to-peer learning within the community. |
| Resistance to curriculum changes | Start with small, manageable integrations and showcase successful examples to build support and enthusiasm. This is difficult but be patient with yourself as you shift towards a sustainability mindset and the ways in which you can integrate sustainability into your course(s). |
| Time constraints for faculty participation | Agree to present together at a conference or to publish a paper on the results. |
| Difficulty in assessing sustainability competencies | Develop clear learning outcomes and assessment rubrics specific to sustainability education, possibly in collaboration with assessment experts. |
| Siloed academic departments | Encourage cross-departmental projects and create opportunities for interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration. |
| Limited institutional support | Align sustainability initiatives with the university’s strategic plan and demonstrate the benefits to student recruitment, retention, and employability. For example, in our faculty and instructional designer learning community we used our university’s strategic plan’s title of Building the University for the Future and Unleashing the Potential for faculty and students. |
| Maintaining long-term engagement | Celebrate successes, provide ongoing support, and continuously evolve the community’s focus to address emerging sustainability challenges. |
Addressing these challenges and implementing effective strategies through a faculty and instructional designer partnership can serve as a powerful driver for integrating sustainability across the curriculum. This approach not only enhances the relevance and quality of education but also prepares students to be responsible global citizens capable of addressing the complex challenges of our time.
Catalyzed Advancements
The University of Central Florida’s learning community initiative on integrating UN Sustainable Development Goals across disciplines has catalyzed significant advancements in teaching and learning. This project spawned multiple Scholarship of Teaching and Learning studies, presented at various conferences. UCF’s Center for Distributed Learning played a crucial role with instructional designers creating supportive media, funding Open Educational Resources, and implementing gamification strategies to boost student engagement. The initiative’s success led to UCF’s leadership in the UN SDG Open Pedagogy Fellowship, with five faculty participants. Moreover, the project’s scope has expanded to include space sustainability, aligning with NASA’s orbital debris research. This comprehensive approach underscores UCF’s dedication to embedding sustainability across the curriculum, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, and pushing the boundaries of innovative pedagogy.
Continued Growth
The initiative’s far-reaching impact demonstrates its potential for continued growth and influence in higher education. This initiative and partnership at the University of Central Florida (UCF) on integrating UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across disciplines is notably well-supported by the work of instructional designers and has yielded significant outcomes and sparked further faculty and instructional designer development:
- SoTL Projects:
- Multiple Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) projects emerged from this initiative, with research findings and program developments presented at several conferences.
- Center for Distributed Learning (CDL) Involvement:
- Created videos and graphics to support the initiative
- Funded a project to develop Open Educational Resources (OER) materials and Canvas modules for campus-wide use
- Implemented gamification design to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes
- United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – Open Pedagogy Fellowship:
- CDL has taken on a leadership role in this program with the ways it included instructional designers who worked with faculty to create publishing locations for student work in STARS, and guided faculty and students in how to present their work on this platform
- 5 faculty members are taking part, with 4 coming from the original FLC
- Expanding Horizons:
- Sustainability initiatives are now extending into space-related topics
- NASA is funding projects to study orbital debris, linking sustainability concerns to space exploration and technology
This comprehensive approach proves UCF’s commitment to embedding sustainability across the curriculum, using technology and innovative pedagogical and instructional design approaches to enhance student learning. The project’s success in fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and its extension into innovative areas like space sustainability highlight its far-reaching impact and potential for future growth.
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Authors
Devon Cadwell Bazata, Ed.D, Curriculum & Instruction with a specialization in College Teaching & Leadership, University of Central Florida
Martha Hubertz, Ph.D., Social Psychology, University of Central Florida
Carlos Valdez, Ph.D., Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing, University of Central Florida