Peter Arnfalk
Senior lecturer
Greening the global classroom: experiences using MOOCs to advance sustainability education
Author
Editor
- Donald Huisingh
Summary, in English
However, designing a quality course and ensuring genuine learning experiences in this open and massive context is not without challenges. We describe our practical experience with curriculum design, production and delivery of a MOOC with a wide sustainability focus of "Greening the Economy: Lessons from Scandinavia". The background of students taking the MOOC, motivations and reasons for seeking this type of sustainability education and perceived benefits from this MOOC and other MOOCs with topics related to sustainability are discussed. Combining pedagogical approaches in the form of teacher-led lectures and quizzes for basic understanding with more constructivist forum discussions and peer assessment created the opportunity for the MOOC to not only disseminate knowledge about sustainability issues, but also encourage discussion, peer interaction, and deeper engagement with these issues. An interesting aspect of this reciprocal learning was the collected insights from learners in the form of case studies and survey responses. The promise, as well as potential issues, of MOOCs in contributing to the goals of sustainability education and lifelong learning are discussed and reflected upon.
Department/s
- The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics
Publishing year
2015
Language
English
Publication/Series
Global Cleaner Production and Sustainable Consumption Conference Proceedings
Full text
- Available as PDF - 500 kB
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Document type
Conference paper
Topic
- Pedagogy
- Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
Keywords
- Sustainability education
- massive open online courses
- pedagogy
- online education
- lifelong learning
Conference name
Global Cleaner Production and Sustainable Consumption
Conference date
2015-11-01
Conference place
Sitges, Spain
Status
Published