2 research outputs found
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The SusTEACH Methodology: Assessment of the environmental impacts of Higher Education Teaching Models and development of an Environmental Appraisal toolkit
Sustainable, low carbon Higher Education (HE) teaching systems are part of the carbon reduction strategies needed to meet the targets set for HE institutions. Significant changes in the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have led to new methods in teaching and learning, blending conventional and ICT-based teaching models. Little is known about their environmental impacts. Few studies have considered the whole system carbon-based environmental impacts of different systems of delivering Higher Education. One notable exception was the Factor 10 Visions study ‘Towards Sustainable Higher Education’, which offered an exemplar methodology for conducting an environmental impact audit/assessment of HE courses/modules. Building on this, the SusTEACH project examined the transformative effect of ICTs on HE teaching models, and developed a methodology to assess the main carbon-based environmental impacts of HE courses/modules, and to provide estimations of the energy and carbon impacts associated with different HE teaching models. This methodology as outlined here has supported the SusTEACH project research analysis of over thirty HE courses and modules, and the SusTEACH toolkit available from OpenLearn Module: The environmental impact of teaching and learning
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Greening Higher Education qualification programmes with online learning
Digital infrastructure and devices and computer technology-based pedagogical applications are transforming the way higher education (HE) teaching, learning and assessment is delivered, and are having varied environmental, pedagogical and economic impacts. This chapter introduces the SusTEACH Modelling Tool, developed following an investigation of the impact of computing technologies or Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) on HE teaching models together with a carbon-based environmental assessment of 30 courses, offered by 15 UK-based HE institutions. This offers lecturers a tool for modelling UK-based course and qualification programmes, and estimating their energy consumption and CO2 emissions, following an analysis of the relationship between various online and ICT-enhanced, face-to-face and print-based distance teaching models and the main sources of energy consumption in HE. Applied to the Open University’s BSc Environmental Management and Technology programme, which uses various Online and ICT-enhanced Distance teaching models, the Tool shows that compared with a wholly face-to-face taught programme, carbon reductions of 84% are achieved, although moving to a fully online programme would reduce carbon emissions by 87%. Discussion includes the role of online learning designs and pedagogical use of computer technologies for achieving carbon reduction in HE