Karel Mulder

Embedding sustainability in higher education through interaction with lecturers: Case studies from three European technical universities

In this paper, three universities compare their work on the integration of sustainable development into their educational programmes. The purpose is to show examples of how this can be done and to illustrate important generalised success factors. Methods used to achieve embedding of sustainability in curricula through individual interaction with teachers and other actors are described. The three universities are all technical universities with relatively high ambitions for their activities in relation to sustainable development.

Integrating SD into Engineering Courses at the Delft University of Technology: The Individual Interaction Method.

When sustainable development (SD) is only taught in specific courses, it is questionable if engineering students are able to integrate it into their engineering practices and technical designs. For this reason, sustainability should also be integrated into regular engineering courses, e.g. design courses, materials courses or processing technology. The SD education plan adopted by the board of Delft University of Technology (DUT) in 1998 was based on this philosophy. It consists of three interconnected activities for all engineering curricula: the implementation of an elementary course “Technology in sustainable development”; the development of a graduation program in sustainable development for students who want to specialize; and the integration of sustainable development in all regular courses, wherever applicable. This paper describes various activities that the project group carried out to stimulate and support the third strategy: SD integration. It turned out that top‐down attempts to influence the content of courses often triggered resistance among lecturers, as they feared the intermingling of laymen into their scientific/engineering discipline. Interaction was important but was often impossible by lack of mutual understanding. Participation in a national project aimed to stimulate discussion by making disciplinary sustainability reviews of academic/engineering disciplines. This approach was promising as it created the base for serious discussions. However, the reports often ended in the bureaucracies of the departments. More positive results were achieved with a semi‐consultant approach directed at discussing SD issues with individual lecturers. Many lecturers were willing to discuss their courses, and were interested in practical ideas to integrate sustainability. This interactive approach is promising because it does not conflict with academic culture and keeps the lecturer in charge of his own course.

How to Educate Engineers for/in Sustainable Development: Ten Years of Discussion, Remaining Challenges.

Systematic analysis of what should be Engineering Education in Sustainable Development has been taking place since the end of the 1990s.This paper addresses what the main challenges have been and what educational research is still required. To provide more and better solutions for the sustainability challenges of our time engineering education should adapt and open itself to social science driven approaches and active experiential learning in order to make the engineer a valuable SD problem solver. But how to educate the engineer for that task? This paper provides an overview of main questions that were analyzed: 1. What should engineers learn on SD? 2. How to trigger institutional change within engineering schools: topdown or bottom-up? 3. How to trigger cultural change, how to win the hearts and souls of the faculty? 4. Curriculum change: starting new programs or changing existing ones? 5. The contribution of active learning and project based learning?

Conceptual maps: measuring learning processes of engineering students concerning sustainable development

In the 1990s, courses on sustainable development (SD) were introduced in technological universities. After some years of practice, there is increased interest in the evaluation of the most effective ways for teaching SD. This paper introduces the use of conceptual maps as a tool to measure the knowledge acquired by students when taking a Sustainability course. Pilot measurements have been made to evaluate the concepts and their interrelations in order to evaluate the students’ learning. These measurements were carried out using a sample of more than 700 European students. To measure the learning outcomes of courses, the evaluation is done twice. Before the course starts, the students’ previous knowledge on sustainability is measured; once the students have completed the course they are evaluated again. By comparing conceptual maps drawn by each student, the improvement of the students’ knowledge is evaluated. This paper shows the measuring process, and points out the suitability of using conceptual maps for research in education. Moreover, the correlation between the learning outcomes the pedagogical techniques used in each course may indicate the effectiveness of the pedagogical strategies in education for sustainable development.

Traditional and Modern Technology Assessment: Toward a Toolkit

Abstract Technology assessment (TA) as a discipline includes rather different approaches and methods. Traditionally, the discipline has focused on forecasting, impact assessment, and policy studies. Later more process-oriented approaches, such as constructive technology assessment (CTA), were developed that were aimed explicitly at influencing the shape of new technologies. Although the new approaches have enriched the field of technology assessment, the scope and variety of the field has increased, particularly concerning its methods. These range from trend extrapolation and Delphis to interventions in innovation networks and consensus conferences. This article aims to classify the approaches and methods of TA into a common framework. Distinctions are made between methods of analysis and intervention methods, and between methods functioning as project layout and mere tools. Some criteria are formulated for the choice of methods. In this way, the article attempts to increase the coherence of the field of TA, and to make it more transparent to nonpractitioners such as scientists and engineers, government employees, and members of civil movements.

Don't Preach. Practice! Value Laden Statements in Academic Sustainability Education.

Purpose – The slogan “Practice what you preach” denotes that people should behave in accordance with the values that they preach. For universities that teach sustainable development (SD), it implies that these institutes should apply major SD principles themselves for example by campus greening, green purchasing, etc. But is not “Practice what you preach” a questionable slogan in that regard that university teachers should not preach values, i.e. transfer values to their students by the authority of their position? Which value statements are acceptable and which are not?Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents the results of a survey among international SD teachers in engineering on the acceptability of value laden statements. Moreover, the paper presents results regarding the values that SD teachers represent, and compares these results to survey results among engineers and engineering students.Findings – SD teachers in engineering are more critical about the role of technology in SD than their s...

Engineering curricula in sustainable development. An evaluation of changes at Delft University of Technology

This paper will first sketch some basic features of the engineering profession, and the need for change. It will analyse the political process that resulted in the decision at Delft University of Technology (DUT) to emphasise Sustainable Development (SD) in its curricula. The main goal of this education is to show that SD is not a burden, but a challenge to contribute to as an engineer. It will describe the changes in the engineering curriculum that were implemented and give a preliminary evaluation of these changes. The changes encompassed: • a 3 ECTS compulsory training module “Technology in Sustainable Development”, • implementing SD issues in existing courses and design work, and • the development of a special MSc graduation certificate.

Sustainable Consumption and Production of Plastics

Abstract This article deals with the environmental effects of the production and consumption of plastics. The original study was carried out at the request of the National Environmental Conference (Landelijk Milien Overleg) of the Netherlands as part of a project on sustainable chemical production. This project was sponsored by The Netherlands Department of the Environment. In the project, various studies were commissioned on the environmental performance of specific branches of chemical production. The purpose of these studies was to provide a basis for a comprehensive vision on the future of the production of chemicals, and for discussions with the chemical industry. The article will first deal with the history of plastics and then analyze current plastic production, plastic industry, and plastic consumption. The environmental burden caused by plastics is analyzed, as are the various measures taken to reduce this burden. Their effects are analyzed. This article also examines the political debates and conflicts of interest that are involved. In its conclusions, the article will discusses the possible form of a sustainable plastics industry.

What is Sustainable Technology?: Perceptions, Paradoxes and Possibilities

1. What is sustainable technology? 2. Perceptions of Technology: An historical overview 3. Chlorofluorocarbons: Drivers of their emergence and substitution 4. Vehicles of Sustainability in the Field of Nanocoatings Harro van Lente, Innovation Studies, Copernicus Institute for Sustainable Development, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands and Jon van Til, Technopolis Group, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 5. Articulations of sustainability in the development of wind power in the Netherlands Linda M. Kamp, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, TU Delft, The Netherlands 6. Environmental technology in a new urban neighbourhood: Stockholms Hammarby Sjostad Ronald Wennersten and Anna Spitsyna, Department of Industrial Ecology, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden 7. Trade-offs in the district heat distribution system Magdalena Svanstrom, Associate Professor in Chemical Environmental Science and Director of Chalmers Learning Centre, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Goteborg, Sweden and Morgan Froling, Associate Pro 8. Municipal solid waste: Treatment, management and prevention Chantal Block and Carlo Vandecasteele, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Leuven, Belgium 9. What is a sustainable transport system? Dilemmas regarding transport solutions in Sweden Ronald Wennersten and Anna Spitsyna, Department of Industrial Ecology, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden 10. Reducing material use in passenger cars 1920-2020: Balancing energy, waste and safety Erik Tempelman, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, TU Delft, The Netherlands 11. Hydrogen: A stack of competing visions Sjoerd Bakker, Innovation Studies Group, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands 12. Sustainable technologies for water treatment Jordi Morato, Alex Pires Carneiro and Angeles Ortiz, Sustainable Water Management Group, UNESCO Chair of Sustainability, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain 13. Dilemmas in water systems development in China Xingqiang Song, Department of Industrial Ecology, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden and Xingqiang Song and Wim Ravesteijn, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, TU Delft, The Netherlands 14. Conclusions: perceptions, paradoxes and possibilities Karel Mulder, Technology Dynamics and Sustainable Development, TU Delft, Netherlands Didac Ferrer, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Barcelona Harro van Lente, Department of Innovation and Environmental Studies, University of Utrecht, Netherlands

Motivating students and lecturers for education in sustainable development

Purpose – This paper aims at identifying factors that could contribute to the motivation of students in sustainable development (SD) education. The underlying idea of the paper is that SD education is not always as attractive among students and lecturers as many would like it to be. Design/methodology/approach – The paper briefly reviews literature regarding behavioral change for long-term benefits. It identifies four motivators that could be effective to make people pursue longer-term objectives. It identifies if these motivators were present in five cases of successful SD education. Findings – The four motivators for students that were identified in the literature review (a sense of autonomy, a challenge of reflection on the future role, connection with others, self-fulfillment, focus on the individual learning need) could be observed in the cases of successful SD education, although to various degrees. Individual autonomy in learning was not observed, but group autonomy was present in all cases. Resear...