Sustainability Resources
Utilise our resources – from good practice guidelines to implementing new practices – to help you teach, learn and work sustainably.
- What would a definition of sustainable practice include in your curriculum area? How could you share this with students?
- What aspects of sustainable practice are most relevant to your curriculum area?
- What aspects of sustainable practice can you build into the graduate profile and core competencies of your programme?
- What learning outcomes and assessment tasks could you tag to sustainable practice?
- What sustainable aspects/skills would you like to see your co- workers and students showing?
- What does your industry say about sustainable practice? How could you build into the programme opportunities for debate about current industry practice?
7 Steps to: Embedding Sustainability into Student Learning (PDF) from Plymouth University.
Adding Sustainable Value is Otago Polytechnic's practical sustainability training programme that enables organisations to plan for real and lasting success.
From new student to sustainable practitioner – educators role.
Dr Francesca Matthews
Read the complete research project document (PDF, 1006KB)
Beyond Sustainability: A Context for Transformative Curriculum Development
By Mary F. Wright, Kelly D Cain, and Florence A. Monsour
Read the complete research project document (PDF, 774KB)
Explain aspects of the systems that you are/will be working in- relating to your industry and the wider community.
Learning outcome: Review a resource (e.g. podcast) that provides context and relevance for sustainability to the programme of study.
Take a look at this Sustainable futures Wiki (a possible resource to use- includes intro to earths systems, system conditions, 9 human needs, Maslow’s hierarchy).
Identify a human needs theory and then personally reflect whether your needs are met, how could they met if they aren’t currently met and how this translates into the workplace (examples of needs theories: 9 human needs, Maslow’s hierarchy).
Learning Outcome: Review resource (e.g. notes/article/podcast) on stress and reflect on how stress affects you and how stress impacts on other people.
Review the provided resource on earth’s systems.
Learning outcome: Answer multiple choice questions to ensure knowledge of earths systems - water, nitrogen, carbon, phosphorous.
Learning outcome: complete a reflective journal entry considering comparing systems of human body and the earth’s systems - what are the systems and what happens if we break body/Earth’s cycles.
Research a vision for sustainability that an organisation(s) you are interested in adheres to.
Learning outcome: Think about and communicate your vision for a sustainable future in your industry.
Review a model of sustainability (e.g. Bill Reed Model, The Natural Step 4 system conditions).
Learning outcome: Discussion (e.g. in class, online) using a sustainability model, think about actions in everyday life or in the industry that are conventional, green, sustainable or beyond sustainable.
OP staff and students can join Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability (ACTS) which promotes sustainability in the tertiary education sector in Australia and New Zealand.
You can sign up and receive access to these resources by going to www.acts.asn.au and "create a new account” and email address. It will take about 24 hours for your registration to be confirmed.
ACTS services include:
- Workshops, training and professional development opportunities
- Scholarships in sustainability for both staff and students
- Awards
- Web based resources on: Leadership and Governance, Partnership and Engagement, Learning Teaching and Research, and Facilities and Operations
- Contact information for other sustainable organisations to assist networking, collaboration, and information sharing.
- Access to the Learning in Future Environments (LiFE). Index aimed to help educational institutions manage, measure and improve their social and environmental responsibility performance (accessible from the ACTS website).
ACTS membership also gives you reciprocal access to sister organisations in the USA and UK and Asia:
- USA - www.aashe.org
- UK - www.eauc.org.uk/home
