Charlotte Holland

The Dispositions, Abilities and Behaviours (Dab) Framework for Profiling Learners’ Sustainability Competencies in Higher Education

Abstract The concepts of sustainability and sustainability competence are controversial, complex, difficult to define and measure, and have varied meanings for different people and practices. Given the complex nature of sustainability, there is limited availability of paradigmatic frameworks to guide educators in assessing sustainability competencies. This paper introduces the Dispositions, Abilities and Behaviours (DAB) framework, which influenced the design of an intervention in 2013-2014 that profiled sustainability competencies among final year undergraduate students in a higher education institution. The results of the mixed methods study indicate that the DAB framework has good potential as a guide to educators or researchers in understanding and profiling sustainability- related abilities, attitudes and actions (areas of performance) of cohorts of students within higher education settings.

Crafting Pedagogical Pathways that Disrupt and Transform Anthropocentric Mindsets of Higher Education Students

A key challenge in education for sustainable development is in enabling learners to critically review and re-orient anthropocentric (human-centric) perspectives on sustainability. Sustainability challenges are complex and fluid, and demand non-human centric thinking in constructing viable solutions. The purpose of this study was thus to explore how disruptive pedagogical interventions could be used to challenge and transform anthropocentric mindsets of higher education students. The guiding framework for these pedagogical interventions was transformative learning, which translated into exposure to disorienting dilemmas, followed by individual reflection and subsequent engagement in rational discourse on key sustainability themes. A series of ‘visual cues’ (comprising of disruptive imagery and critical questions) were designed to provoke participants to think more critically about human centric world-views and the interconnectedness, multiplicity and heterogeneity of sustainability. Through the use of Constructivist Grounded Theory, a framework of four conceptual categories emerged, namely, ‘Emotional/cognitive disjuncture’, ‘Recognising principles, practices and themes of sustainability’, ‘Critiquing concepts and contexts of sustainability’ and ‘Reorienting dispositions/perspectives for sustainability’. This framework represents key elements within the process of becoming sustainability [re]oriented, and ultimately provided the evidence that the disruptive pedagogical framework underpinning these visual cue interventions has been effective in moving learners beyond anthropocentric views of the world, and thus, can be used to support learners in becoming sustainability [re]-oriented.

Interplay of Rhizome and Education for Sustainable Development

Abstract One of the central challenges within education for sustainable development (ESD) is in empowering learners to reframe mindsets, particularly those that result in unsustainable behaviours and/or actions. This paper introduces the concept of rhizome articulated by Deleuze and Guattari (1987) and proposes that it can act as a framework for re-conceptualising processes of ESD. Key constructs within the rhizome, such as assemblages, nomadism, war machines and lines of flights, are discussed to highlight their relevance to ESD. The principles of the rhizome (connection, heterogeneity, multiplicity, signifying rupture, cartography and decalcomania) are then examined in the context of six processes necessary for effective ESD outlined by Tilbury (2011), namely, collaboration, dialogue, ‘whole system’ engagement, innovation within curricula, teaching and learning and active and participatory learning. The final section critically considers how this weaving of rhizomatic principles with the processes of ESD impacts on educating for sustainability. The rhizome has the potential to inspire educators and learners alike to become more critically aware of the interconnectivity and disruptive influences within sustainability. In this regard, the discussion ends by concluding that the reconceptualisation of ESD as rhizome or rhizomatic can foster an ontological shift towards perceiving the nature of reality as complex interconnected multiplicities.

Performance anxiety in academia: Tensions within research assessment exercises in an age of austerity

The current recessionary economic climate in Ireland has (re-) awakened a neoliberal agenda that is changing the dynamic of what is being valued within research assessment exercises, specifically across Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) disciplines in higher education. Research assessment exercises in AHSS disciplines now place a greater emphasis on measuring performance in terms of quantitative research metrics (such as: bibliometrics, impact factors and/ or citation indices), in an attempt to demonstrate greater accountability and value-for-money within this age of austerity. This practice has the potential to impact negatively on the quality and diversity of research, as well as on the independence and autonomy of those undertaking AHSS research in Ireland and elsewhere. This article critically reviews research assessment exercises, with particular reference to the assessment of educational research in Ireland. It examines issues in the assessment of research within the neoliberal agenda that is evident in Ireland, and elsewhere. For example, in other jurisdictions, the neoliberal drive for accountability has been accompanied by an increase in ‘citation clubs’, a malpractice involving a group of researchers consistently citing each other’s work to increase their citation index. It also challenges the validity of utilising predominantly quantitative research metrics in light of the recent move towards the online publication of research, where the manipulation of meta-data (key words that describe the research) has the potential to unfairly increase the citation indices of those researchers with a better understanding of search optimisation techniques within online contexts. The discussion concludes by summarising some of the emerging and emergent anxieties in relation to assessing research performance within assessment exercises.

Ethical-Values Pedagogical Model

Abstract This paper presents a pedagogical model that emerged during the design of an online Masters programme developed with the support of funding from the Erasmus multilateral programme. The authors are experienced in both the development and implementation of online learning, particularly values-based learning approaches in higher education, and are deeply committed to building alternate theoretical models that stimulate thinking about values-based learning within an online context. This pedagogical model thus represents an alternative theoretical resource for thinking about the role of ethical-values in learning. Garrison, Anderson and Archer’s (2000) Community of Inquiry Framework has been re-conceptualised and a new pedagogical model, titled the “Ethical-values Pedagogical Model”, has emerged. This model posits that a positive ethical-values presence is critical to sustaining teaching, social and cognitive presences and thus the lynchpin for the enablement of appropriate and meaningful cognitive experiences. The ethical-values bases of learners and educators effectively filter the way in which the cognitive experience is created and the manner in which the individual learner makes sense and/or constructs meaning within the learning environment. As such, the ethical-values bases of participants impact significantly on the teaching, social and cognitive presences within the learning environment. The presence of ethical-values that foster authentic, democratic and transformative learning experiences for the individual learner, communities of learners and educators is critical to the success of this Ethical-values Pedagogical Model.

Design Criteria for Visual Cues Used in Disruptive Learning Interventions within Sustainability Education.

Abstract This paper presents the design criteria for Visual Cues – visual stimuli that are used in combination with other pedagogical processes and tools in Disruptive Learning interventions in sustainability education – to disrupt learners’ existing frames of mind and help re-orient learners’ mind-sets towards sustainability. The theory of Disruptive Learning rests on the premise that if learners’ frames of mind or frames of reference can be disrupted (in other words, challenged), then learners’ mind-sets can be re-oriented towards sustainability, and indeed learners can be motivated to engage in change agency for sustainability. The use of Visual Cues thus unsettle or challenge learners’ mind-sets, and in doing so, set them on the pathway towards re-orientation in becoming more sustainability oriented, and/or in motivating engagement in sustainability change agency. The findings form part of a broader research study on ESD conducted in a higher education institution in Ireland within an undergraduate degree of teacher education. Kathy Charmaz’ Constructivist Grounded Theory approach guided the entire study, resulting in the articulation of the theory of, and processes within, Disruptive Learning. This paper presents design criteria for Visual Cues that were articulated through a thematic analysis approach from data emerging from reflective diaries, follow-up interviews, audio recordings and observational notes. The findings from this study in respect of design criteria state that Visual Cues must disrupt rather than disturb; must represent (have impressions of) real life contexts, scenarios, practices or events; must provoke controversy; must contain a visual stimulation; and can have a critical question.

Neoliberalism and education: Spotlight on Ireland

Education is in an age of austerity, bearing the brunt of the global economic recession, with most sectors struggling to maintain quality learning and inclusive educational practices in the face of diminished human and educational resourcing, and low morale among educators and management. The economic crisis that heralded the end of the Celtic Tiger Economy era in the Republic of Ireland has resulted in increased student-teacher ratios in all sectors of education, with corresponding reductions in the resourcing and supports being made available to the majority of students, including those with special educational needs. The global recession has also distinctively impacted on the economies of Northern Ireland (NI). Emerging from decades of conflict, the anticipated economic dividend from peace was shortlived, leading the devolved NI Executive to institute swinging cuts to education services, resulting in similar concerns and impacts as the rest of Ireland but with the additional expectation that education should find ways to promote peace and reconciliation. The economic recession has further mobilised neo-liberal agendas promoting mainly employability-related competencies and quantitative performativity metrics (that focus on valuing what can be readily measured rather than measuring what should be valued) within and across education systems. At most levels of education in Ireland, curricula have already been recast in more measurable forms, with a focus on defining specific learning outcomes and enabling discipline-specific employability-related skills. This is resulting in the preparation of learners in schools and universities for ‘narrow’ career paths connected to sectors (predominantly, science and technology) that are expected to drive economic recovery. The impact of this in the long-term will be the marginalisation of disciplines within areas such as the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, that are pivotal to the development of just, peaceable and sustainable futures for all, and the lack of which may

Flipping Learning!: Challenges in Deploying Online Resources to Flipped Learning in Higher Education

Recently, there has been considerable interest in deploying the concept of the Flipped Classroom within higher education a blended mode of learning which typically deploys online resources to provide more focused learning opportunities for learners at home, with lecture-time re-oriented to facilitate discussion and collaborative learning approaches. Much has been written about the success of particular online social media technologies such as wikis, podcasts and blogging sites in supporting open, distributed and situated learning, within active eco-learning systems such as Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) and online communities of learning in higher education. This chapter presents a meta level review of emerging and emergent challenges of integrating online resources to flip the learning in higher education. The recommendations call for the reorientation of prevailing learner, educator and institutional cultures and contexts so that learner centred, autonomous, flexible learning experiences can be facilitated when flipping learning within higher education.