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Beit Berl Academic College, Israel is finding partners for a TEMPUS project coordinated by the School of Education, Beit Berl Academic College in Israel. The project is titled - Development of interdisciplinary environmental study units as a modular framework for sustainable teaching and research partnerships in higher education. The project aims to establish sustainable research and teaching partnerships (at three levels: within institutions, nationally-among different academic institutions in each country and internationally-among the partner institutions from the different countries) in the field of environmental studies in higher education. Also the project aims and to enhance meaningful education for sustainable development and promotion of environmental leadership in higher education.Please find attached some more details about the project.

Contact details: Dr. Dafna GolanChair, Environmental Studies & AgricultureBeit Berl Academic College: dafnag@netvision.net.il

Dr. Oded PotchterChair, Geography & environmental developmentBeit Berl Academic College:  potchter@post.tau.ac.il

Development of interdisciplinary environmental study units as a modular framework for sustainable teaching and research partnerships in higher education

Submitted by:

Dr. Daphne Goldman                                                                        Dr. Oded Potchter

Chair, Environmental Studies & Agriculture                Chair, Geography & environmental development

School of Education, Beit Berl Academic College

This proposal outlines the initial concept of a novel multi-country project for developing a modular framework of interdisciplinary environmental study units, which will provide the infrastructure for establishment of sustainable teaching and research partnerships between institutions of higher education.

Major Goals

At the heart of this project lie two major goals:

1. To establish sustainable research and teaching partnerships (at three levels: within institutions, nationally-among different academic institutions in each country and internationally-among the partner institutions from the different countries) in the field of environmental studies in higher education.

2. To enhance meaningful education for sustainable development and promotion of environmental leadership in higher education.

Objectives

Specific objectives of this project include:

1. Development of the educational philosophy and rationale (the campus and its local environment as a 'living laboratory') which will provide the conceptual foundations of the study units.
2. Development of a set/series of study units/packages that address aspects of man and the environment, including the educational curricula of the units.
3. Establishment of the infrastructure that will enable sustainable partnerships between academic institutions in the research and teaching of man-environment issues (see below).
4. Implementation and validation of the study units/packages through courses conducted on partner campuses which integrate exchange of students and staff between the partners.
5. Expanding the possibilities for exposure of higher education students studying in diverse academic frameworks (different departments, different programs and different degrees) to state-of-the-art education for sustainable development.
6. Strengthening the teaching and research infrastructure at different levels (policy, equipment, internet network with study platform, expanding learning frameworks within different academic programs, etc.), for environmental studies within each institution.

 Brief Description of the Project

All aspects of the environmental study units and modular concept will be developed in the project. With regards to study units/packages these aspects will address: pedagogue approach, structure, components, length, subject matter and curriculum, etc. Regarding modular educational framework, aspects will address: courses and programs in which they can be implemented, the relationship between subject matter of different units and adaptation of units for different courses and programs, academic requirements of students from different partner campuses, different ways to combine selected units.   

The modular concept will be developed as following:

Initial step of the project is mapping of participating campuses to identify environmental aspects that are strong-points and unique to each campus with regards to academic staff, educational infrastructure and academic programs related to the environment. The outcome of this stage should be a list of subjects for study units. The idea is to obtain a diverse cumulative list of study units based on the input of the partner institutions. Each campus will contribute 4-6 units (on man-environment subjects) according to its environmental strong-points and uniqueness. The cumulative list of units should encompass the major environmental challenges and issues of man-environment interrelationships. A number of units on selected environmental subjects (such as urban parks, rivers, air pollution, climate, environmental management, environmental politics, environmental education, etc.) will be developed as common study units more specifically enabling comparative study of common issues.

Suggested components of study units/packages

We suggest that the commons denominators/components of the study units of this project will be:

1) Educational philosophy/approach on which they are based and their educational components (based on EE- developing knowledge foundation, scientific and democratic citizenships skills, active involvement in coping with environmental challenges, environmental leadership skills);

2) Structural components:

a. Study of theory and background- for example by panoramic classes conducted online and exchange student work using an online platform that will be developed as part of the project.

b. Multi disciplinary workshops for mastering the methodologies relevant for study of specific issues - developing technical competency.

c. Field study and research- which will utilize the campuses and their local environments as 'living laboratories' for the educational and scientific research. These will be based the existing physical environment and facilities of the campuses, to which additional elements will be added to enable visualization, measurement and monitoring of processes (such as energy and material flows).

Suggested outline for stages of the project:

Stage one: Development of guiding principals-

1. Mapping of partner campuses from their environmental aspects and creation of cumulative list of subjects for study units/packages.
2. Development of the pedagogical and structural principles that will guide development of study units/packages.
3. Design of the components of the infrastructure for collaboration in research and teaching of subject matter of the program (internet platform, etc.)

• Stage one requires meeting of the project leaders from the participating institutions.

Stage two: Development of study units/packages-

1. Development of components, study material and educational study work of the environmental study packages.
2. Introduction of the units/packages to the institutional authorities and their integration within institutional curricula and programs

Stage three: Implementation of modular study framework-

1. Conduction on the study units/packages in each institution.
2. Conduction of exchange study groups (students and staff) between partner institutions.
3. Cumulating international conference of project leaders and delegations of participating students. The conference has two aims: 1) To present student outcomes of their participation in the program; b. To discuss and drawing conclusion about the project using students and partner feedback.
4. Preparation of final report and production of blueprint for ongoing collaboration between institutions.

 Potential Contribution / Expected Significance

This project will promote academic networking and partnership at three levels:

1. Institutional level: Interdisciplinary study units/packages which will serve different academic curricula and programs - undergraduate, graduate, different target audiences and different academic departments that address aspects of man-and-the-environment (Environmental Studies, Agriculture, Geography, Life Sciences, Social Sciences, History, Archeology, Architecture, etc), thus increasing the flexibility of academic programs offered by the institution.

2. National level: Products of this project (tools) will promote exchange of knowledge and studies between different colleges and universities within each country and thus jointly address different groups of students in diverse academic programs. Outcomes of the project will include, for example: greater exposure of students to specialists in various fields of the environment resulting from exchange studies between partner institutions, thus contributing to development of their environmental leadership capacities during their studies; wider exposure of academic staff which specialize and various aspects of environment and sustainability to student audiences; enrichment of research collaboration between specialists from partner institutions and ongoing contribution to the quality and relevance of environmental study programs.

3. International level: Promoting international exchange of teachers and mobility of students and trainees and creating a specific network for further cooperation. The study units/packages, modular framework and infrastructure will provide the foundation for ongoing collaboration between institutions in both the research and teaching of global and local environmental challenges, including international study groups and workshops. This aspect is crucial since environmental issues are not limited by political boundaries and require sharing of experience from different countries.

 The modular characteristic of the study units provide flexibility, since modularity enables adapting the different units to a wide range of academic requirement (departments, curricula, programs, degrees. This enables each institution to tailor the implementation and integration of these study units within diverse curricula and programs according to its specific needs and for different target audiences.