The Good Practice that we would like to present at the 5th Barcelona Conference on Higher Education organized by GUNI responds to the activities carried out by the “Teaching Innovation Group on Sustainability” (TIGS) developed by a team of university professors and researchers at the University of Burgos. Among these activities, we would highlight the organization of an interdisciplinary course on sustainability that we have denominated “Challenges for the 21st Century”, open to all students registered at the University of Burgos and taught by professors of physics, chemistry, history, pedagogy, sociology, anthropology and law. The main aim of the course is to awaken the awareness of students towards the issues that affect and are affected by our mode of production and consumption in such a way that they become more concious of the need for a more sustainable modus vivendi.
The team of professors comprising the TIGS in charge of teaching this Good Practice have a broad experience in university teaching, in research and, above all, in reflecting upon how we live our everyday life and how small changes in our thinking and in our practices can indeed produce significant changes.
The first initiative of the group was the creation of the “Aula de Paz y Desarrollo” (“Peace and Development Workshop”) in 2001. The activities carried out since that year include conferences, seminars, exhibitions, film screenings, photographic competitions and, especially, the organization of the course “Challenges for the 21st century”, a course that has inspired the configuration of the current course on sustainability that we present as an example of a Good Practice. These activities have been carried out by the members of the Workshop in an entirely altruistic form, without any kind of economic compensation.
This course complies with the current Spanish Legislation in Higher Education and with the Tunning Process, both of which emphasize the ethical compromise that higher education institutions must acquire in order to encourage: (i) the development of good practices that are more respectful and careful with the environment; (ii) the building of a ‘culture of peace’ that avoids any form of coercion and/or physical-symbolic violence; (iii) the respect for cultural differences and the recognisance of the richness involved in inter-cultural dialogue and polyphonies; and (iv) the understanding that we are all active agents and that, therefore, we are responsible for our actions and for the consequences that these actions may have for future generations.
The main objectives of the course “Challenges for the 21st Century: Teaching Sustainability in the Context of Higher Education” are:
To promote the reflexion on the need for a more sustainable approach to any aspect of our lives, both professional and quotidian.
To understand that small changes can have very significant outcomes.
To contribute to the dissemination of the concept of sustainability and of the practices associated to sustainable development.
To make the students the real protagonists of the learning process by focussing on their capabilities to solve problems in new and creative ways.
The first initiative of the group was the creation of the “Aula de Paz y Desarrollo” (“Peace and Development Workshop”) in 2001. The activities carried out since that year include conferences, seminars, exhibitions, film screenings, photographic competitions and, especially, the organization of the course “Challenges for the 21st century”, a course that has inspired the configuration of the current course on sustainability that we present as an example of a Good Practice. These activities have been carried out by the members of the Workshop in an entirely altruistic form, without any kind of economic compensation.
The recent implementation of the Good Practice that we present at the Conference does not allow us to adventure definite results. Yet, we can make some remarks regarding our practice in previous years teaching the course “Challenges for the 21st century”, organizing divulgation activities on and off campus and working towards the institutional and academic inclusion of the culture of peace and sustainability in the curriculum. As regards to the course “Challenges for the 21st century”, we can humbly said that the course was a success regarding the steadily growth of the number of students registered for the course and the cooperation with student associations (e.g. a branch of Engineers without Borders) in organizing exhibits and conferences that followed. Divulgation activities carried out by the TIGS have included a wide array of exhibits in well transited halls and vestibules of the university as well as film cycles, conferences and workshops both on and off campus. The themes that have been addressed in these activities have dealt with the promotion of values such as sustainability, peace, cooperation, equity and social justice. Finally, we are proud of having persuaded the University of Burgos to establish a department that promotes the above mentioned values (see http://www.ubu.es/ubu/cm/ubu/tkContent?pgseed=1255542210758&idContent=96222&locale=es_ES&textOnly=false for more information regarding the activities of this Workshop).
As regards to the innovative aspects of this Good Practice, we would like to mention: (i) the interdisciplinary character of the TIGS (both regarding professors and students); (ii) the contents addressed in the course and the methodology involved in the learning process, based on the active interaction and participation in the classroom and in processes of co-evaluation; (iii) the inclusion of what we call ‘Teaching Reciprocity’, that is, the practice of teaching the course to ourselves after having ‘discovered’ that, although we do have an in-deep knowledge in our areas of research and expertise, we also needed to become more aware of other dimensions of sustainability that are debated in the course and taught by other professors.
guninetwork.org | Ph: +34 93 401 70 08 | Fx: +34 93 401 08 55 | C. Jordi Girona, 31. Edifici TG(S1). E-08755 Barcelona
