Can real-world sustainability audits provide a tool for effective responsible management education?

- Context of responsible management education - Audits and auditing - The context of responsible management education - Using the University of Worcester as a live case study for an audit - Practical use of the university for an audit - example of an environmental impact assessment activit

Using Sustainability Audits to Enhance Responsible Management Education and Develop Personally and Professionally Responsible Work-Ready Graduates

It is widely held that responsible management education within UK business schools is lagging behind the needs of graduates in the changing world of work, leaving a UK-wide skills shortage. New approaches to learning and teaching are therefore required to address this skills shortage and develop personally and professionally responsible work-ready graduates who possess the knowledge, skills and values required to deliver environmentally, socially, and economically responsible business futures that balance short term economic management with long-term responsible business practices. In response, the University of Worcester Business School has adopted real-world ISO14001 and Global Reporting Initiative sustainability audits as teaching tools to enhance responsible management education for second and third-year business management students. Engaging students in the critical and reflexive thinking and questioning required to undertake a sustainability audit of business procedures and practices can develop graduates who are personally and professionally responsible, work-ready, and have the necessary responsible management knowledge, skills, and values to identify and address any irresponsible business practices. This innovative approach to responsible management education will be of interest to educators seeking opportunities to enhance student engagement in responsible business practices and to graduate employers seeking work-ready graduates who can close gaps in sustainability skills and help to develop responsible business futures. Both of these are urgent needs in the changing world of work

Enhancing Student Engagement in Business Sustainability Through Games

Purpose: This practice-focused study explores the value students place on the Sustainable Strategies Game which seeks to improve student engagement in business sustainability through enhanced game-based learning. This game provides an alternative collaborative learning environment to the traditional instructivist approach in order to enrich Education for Sustainability learning experiences and enhance student engagement. Design/Methodology/Approach: Students’ reflections on their game-based learning experiences and suggestions for game development were collected through a short qualitative survey. Results are explored through three frameworks, the Multifaceted Student Value Model, the Dimensions of Engagement Framework and the UK Higher Education Authority Framework for Engagement Through Partnership. Findings: Research findings suggest the Sustainable Strategies Game provides game-based learning within Education for Sustainability that delivers ‘edutainment’ within an active, collaborative and experiential learning environment that the students value. It is also able to challenge thinking and emotionally engage students with the fundamentals of business sustainability. Reflection-on-action and the students’ role as co-researchers in game development allow students to become active participants in their learning as well as knowledge producers and evaluators. These outcomes deliver the UK Higher Education Authority’s core facets of student engagement through partnership. Research limitations/implications: This practice-focused study presents the self-reported results of a one-time, small study which does not offer generalised, independently validated responses. However, the findings may be of interest to educators considering the adoption of game-based learning and those seeking new learning cultures for EfS. Practical Implications: Game-based learning and teaching approaches can achieve a learner-centred active, collaborative learning environment that enhances student engagement with business sustainability. Originality/Value: Experiences gained from this study should assist others in the implementation of game-based learning to engage students in business sustainability

Promoting Education for Sustainability Through Game-based Learning : Using the Sustainable Strategies Game to Improve Students’ Knowledge and Skills of Sustainable Business Practices

The need to ensure that learners acquire the knowledge and skills required to promote sustainable development and evolving preferences for experiential and collaborative learning within Higher Education are reshaping approaches to Education for Sustainability. In response the Sustainable Strategies Game seeks to provide experiential game-based learning and teaching for business sustainability within Worcester Business School. The Sustainable Strategies Game aims to stimulate collaborative engagement in business strategy making that promotes sustainability literacy skills, the adoption of sustainable practices, the sustainable use of common resources (freshwater) and encourages students to explore the equitable sharing of benefits gained from the use of this generic resource. This paper presents qualitative evidence from research conducted into student perceptions’ of the effectiveness of SSG as a new way to learn and think about business sustainability. It utilises the HEA Framework for Engagement through Partnership and the Framework for Engagement in Game-based Learning and Teaching to explore the value the Sustainable Strategies Game has for experiential and collaborative learning for Education for Sustainability and its ability to engage students in the complexities of integrating social, environmental and economic impacts of consuming natural resources within business operations. The findings suggest that the Sustainable Strategies Game provides an entertaining learning environment that challenges sustainability thinking and behaviours and encourages students to engage with the key principles of business sustainability and investigate business strategies that carry less impact on society and the environment

Auditing a case study: Enhancing case-based learning in education for sustainability

Case-based learning is a long-standing pedagogic practice involving students undertaking a single dimensional, independent analysis of a text case study which feeds forward into a class discussion. However, this poses several challenges for education for sustainability within the current culture of Higher Education; learners are required to analyze interlinked, multi-faceted aspects of sustainability whereas a traditional text case study generally presents a single situation for consideration; students are reluctant to prepare for classes; a text case study promotes backward reasoning rather than the forward thinking that education for sustainability requires to develop work ready graduates who are change agents for sustainable futures; case-based learning cannot substitute for the active, experiential learning that students find engaging. This paper presents the findings of a three-year research study into enhancing case-based learning within education for sustainability. It proposes utilizing an extensive mixed media case and facilitating multi-dimensional analysis through the completion of a sustainability audit in an active learning environment to overcome the challenges of traditional case-based learning. The inclusion of an audit to frame the case study analysis may enhance case-based learning as it provides a more immersive experience that guides students through the collection, collation, synthesis, and communication of case study information. The study's findings suggest students are more engaged and develop the knowledge skills and values required for work readiness and to become sustainability change agents through their immersion in an audit. Consequently, this paper may be of interest to educators seeking an innovative approach to education for sustainability that may overcome the challenges of traditional case-based learning and promote active, experiential learning of the multi-faceted aspects of sustainability

Evaluation of Students’ Experience of Team-based Experiential Learning through the Collaborative SAP Project

Collaborative learning and teaching pedagogies, such as team-based learning, problembased learning, and practical projects, are generally held to provide student-centred approaches that promote higher levels of engagement, enhance students’ experience develop employability skills and ultimately obtain deeper levels of learning within Higher Education. Yet, the researchers’ practical experience suggests that students are reluctant to engage in team-based learning. Understanding this value-action gap presents an opportunity to improve experiential learning within the generally instructive business school environment, enhance the students’ experience and foster a range of transferable, softer business skills all of which may in turn generate better learning outcomes. This paper presents the initial research findings from an exploration of the students’ experience of team-based learning undertaken through a University of Worcester Student as Academic Partners Project which engages students as researchers within a staff-student collaborative research project

Can Soft Rationing of Energy Transform the UK Non-domestic Energy Culture?

The link between energy consumption and climate change is generally accepted by the UK politicians, the public and business communities. However, this recognition is at odds with the long standing non-domestic energy culture which views energy as a low cost resource and limitless availability as an entitlement. Energy policies have generally relied on voluntary rational economic behavioural responses to financial initiatives established to support the UK’s 2050 Pathway and carbon emissions reductions targets. However, many non-domestic users have not adopted the financially beneficial energy efficient technologies and behaviours as expected and progress towards mitigating climate change is now stalling. Since 2012 carbon emissions reductions have been largely confined to the power sector, whilst emissions from the UK’s non-domestic building stock have been rising. Predictions now suggest that, without the introduction of more challenging measures to supplement existing progress, the energy transition pathways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% of 1990 levels will be missed. This paper suggests that these challenging measures could include soft rationing of non-domestic energy supplies to transform the UK’s current non-domestic energy culture that provokes socio-economic energy inertia by decarbonising energy sources, to one which values energy as a finite resource and promotes reduction of energy use. Soft rationing, delivered through a scheme of energy allowances to cap non-domestic energy use, may reenergise the pathway to mitigating climate change by promoting sustainable energy choices which focus on how much energy is needed rather than how much is used

Developing future managers’ understanding of complex business issues by making knowledge visible: tasking business students to draw pictures

Traditionally educators within higher education have relied on in-class questioning techniques to establish and/or check students’ understanding of complex business issues and development of softer employment skills. However, whilst some students answer the questions set, many avoid raising their hands in case they give the wrong answer. This has two outcomes: firstly, it prevents students reflecting to recognise their knowledge, understanding and development of softer employment skills, and secondly it prevents educators getting a real understanding of whether students understand the topic or are developing their learning. This unwillingness to respond is now recognised as more prevalent in online learning, particularly where sessions are recorded. To promote an alternative and more creative approach to checking knowledge, understanding and development of softer employment skills within management education, students are tasked with drawing a topic. Drawing can replace the tutor-centred check of understanding with a student-centred reflective learning task that makes knowledge visible. This can encourage students to think differently and reflect on their knowledge which in turn may encourage them to recognise their own learning and skills development. In addition, the drawing can demonstrate understanding/misunderstanding and extent of learning for educators. This paper explores the potential benefits of engaging business management students in developing an understanding of complex business issues and softer employment skills through drawing and uses the example of drawing sustainability to illustrate this. It will be of interest to educators within higher education and management training who need tools that promote different ways of thinking and enable them to understand students’ knowledge. It will also be of interest to those seeking to promote reflective learning and develop teaching techniques that enable students to understand their own learning and development of skills