the beginners’ guide embedding sustainability in skills development sessions: 3 faculty linked...
Post on 24-Dec-2015
215 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
The Beginners’ Guide
Embedding Sustainability in Skills Development Sessions:
3 Faculty Linked Learning Developers
Kevin Watson:Faculty of
Humanities & Social Science
Chris Little:Faculty of Health
Jayne Eagles:Faculty of Natural Sciences
What we do…
Embedded skills development sessions (Away Days)• 3-hour sessions• Topics chosen by programme links
Away Days – Sustainability focus
Politics • 16 Students
Physiotherapy • 40 students
Chemistry • 45 Students
Politics – 20/2/14: 16 students
Initial Problem: I needed to know what I was talking about.
Sustainability Activities Included
An exercise in which students were asked to reflect on how their experience of university helped and hindered their positive contribution to the world (criticism), consideration of what the utopic university might look like (imagination) and consideration of how we might take control of our university life to make positive changes in the world (implementation).
An exercise in which students designed an environmental politics module.
What Worked
1. The session successfully combined exploration of the sustainability issues with skills development.
2. The session used examples from the world of politics.
Problems / Challenges
1. Timing – sustainability should have run through the
entire event rather than being ‘tagged on’ in the last
hour.
2. Lack of full subject embedding meant that the content
did not relate to any specific module and was rather
superficial.
3. Low turnout.
Physiotherapy 28/2/14 – 40 Students
• Plan A: Conference event with separate speakers• Plan B: Student role play
The session…30 mins 30 mins 2 hours
Presentation skills debate Stress awareness Prepare and deliver 3
presentations around NHS sustainability
Strategy to 3 different audiencesStress awareness Presentation skills
debate
Sustainable Development Unit. (2014). Sustainable, resilient, healthy people & places: A sustainable development strategy for the NHS, public health and social care system.
• Strategic needs assessment of existing provision• Health and Wellbeing Board (HWB)
Student feedback: ComparisonPrevious session 18/10/13- Time management, note making and feedback
Sustainability themed session:• 7.8% reduction in negative feedback (Grades 1/2)• 29% increase in positive feedback (Grades 4/5)
What students found most useful:
Presentations 23
Group work 5
Linked to my course 4
Stress statistics 2
Sustainability 2
Topics to be covered …• Working with others
• Dealing with difficult people
• Promoting ‘Green Chemistry’ in the workplace
Critical Success Factors …
• Subject specific materials
• Challenging and interactive learning exercise
Flash Cards
Articles & Case Material
Conclusion
Embedding sustainability into skills sessions can work but:1. It needs to draw on subject-specific content and
meet students where they are.2. The problem of vague definition needs to be
countered by specific stories, scenarios and, best of all, experiences.
top related