Top-expertise for education in sustainability: Innovative ICT-approaches to ‘connect’ students & experts

Abstract

High schools are increasingly concerned about educating and engaging their students in sustainability issues. Consequently, curricula in many schools are being redesigned in order to focus upon these issues and their consequences. The project ‘Scholen voor Duurzaamheid’ (Schools for Sustainability, SvD), for example, is being used as a springboard in Dutch high schools to gain experience in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). This paper presents the outcomes of research conducted in the period January-September 2010. The objective of this research was to investigate how Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-tools can support the effective integration of experts’ tacit knowledge into high-school sustainability projects, such as SvD. The main research method used within the performed study was case research, which involved literature reviews, interviews and direct in school observations. The literature review examined the areas of ESD, experts’ knowledge and ICT-tools. Underlying theoretical aspects of these three areas were connected through the construction of a conceptual model. This model consequently formed the basis for the creation of different propositions, which were used to focus and guide the empirical data gathering. In order to gather empirical data, case studies were performed at high schools and ESD programmes working with ICT. Examination of these cases was designed to assess if the contributions of experts are considered to be valuable for the educational process, in which ways experts are contacted with the help of ICT and what kind of difficulties could arise through the use of ICT-tools. The findings of the research formed the foundation for several recommendations for different actors that are involving, or may wish to involve experts and ICT in improving the effectivity of high school ESD education.Industrial Design Engineerin