Virtual Academy Sustainability
The Virtual Academy Sustainability is a course on sustainable development in Germany . It offers students at German universities video-based courses on sustainability . It is intended to support universities in implementing the UN Decade Goal of Education for Sustainable Development . The offer, which has existed since 2011, is used by around 2,000 students per semester. The Virtual Academy of Sustainability has already received several awards from the UNESCO World Action Program and the Council for Sustainable Development for its innovative teaching concept and for promoting education for sustainable development .
background
One of the goals of the UN Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is that students from all disciplines should learn in courses to help shape a more sustainable society. The world conference halfway through the UN Decade in Bonn in March 2009 emphasized in its final declaration that universities must also live up to their responsibilities and should include competencies for sustainable development in their educational goals. In a joint statement, have Rectors' Conference and the German Commission for UNESCO invited in early 2010, the universities, to actively promote the integration of the sustainability theme in research and teaching.
organization
The Virtual Academy Sustainability is an institution funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and set up by the Center for Multimedia in Teaching (ZMML) at the University of Bremen .
The Academy Board of Directors , consisting of Gerd Michelsen ( UNESCO Chair for Higher Education for Sustainable Development, Leuphana University Lüneburg ), Uwe Schneidewind (President of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, Energy ) and Georg Müller-Christ (Business Economist, Focus on Sustainable Management, University of Bremen ), discusses the strategic direction of the academy and determines the program of events. In cooperation with experts, he organizes the evaluation of the courses and the academy.
Concept and target group
The Virtual Academy Sustainability creates didactically prepared learning videos on various facets of the topic of sustainability, which can be offered as part of the elective and general studies area at German universities. With the help of learning videos and online support for the students, the form of e-learning (according to Michael Kerres ) is used.
Students are given courses with a sustainability focus, which will prepare them for their future professional orientation. In addition to face-to-face events at the respective universities or during the semester break, students can find out more on the portal of the Virtual Academy Sustainability, register for courses on the learning platform and work with the learning videos.
Partners and stakeholders
For its courses, the Virtual Academy of Sustainability works with scientists and scientific institutions with a focus on sustainability. Among other things, members of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, Energy , members of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) and Gerhard de Haan as chairman of the National Committee for Education for Sustainable Development each created a course with the Virtual Academy of Sustainability.
In addition, we worked together with members of the following universities to create further courses:
- University of Wuppertal
- Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus
- Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg
- Free University of Berlin
- University of Applied Sciences Munich
- Humboldt University of Berlin
- Justus-Liebig university of Giessen
- Technical University Berlin
- Technical University Dresden
- Technical University of Kaiserslautern
- technical university Ilmenau
- University of Bremen
- university Duisburg-Essen
- University of Hamburg
- University of Potsdam
Participating universities
In the summer semester 2019, courses from the Virtual Academy Sustainability were offered at the following universities:
- Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg
- Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg
- Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg
- Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen
- University of Applied Sciences Erfurt
- Georg-August-University Goettingen
- University of Bremen
- Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences
- University of Applied Sciences Emden / Leer
- University of Applied Sciences Neu-Ulm
- University of Forestry Rottenburg
- University for Sustainable Development Eberswalde
- Stuttgart University of Technology
- Heilbronn University
- Neu-Ulm University of Applied Sciences
- Julius Maximilians University of Würzburg
- Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
- East Bavarian Technical University of Amberg-Weiden
- Philipps University of Marburg
- RWTH Aachen
- Technical University of Dresden
- Technical University of Ilmenau
- University of Bremen
- university Duisburg-Essen
- University of Kassel
- University of Konstanz
- University of Passau
- University of Vechta
- Zurich University of Applied Sciences
Courses
The scope of a course is designed depending on the load and is based on the typical course length within a semester. The courses are produced with three credit points as 14 - 15 thematic learning units.
The individual learning units include 90-minute film recordings. Each learning unit is divided into three episodes of 30 minutes each. Of these, 2 × 30 minutes will be presented in the form of a lecture and the third episode will be designed as an interview. In the interviews, open questions from the lecture episodes are taken up, explanations, examples and connections are shown that remained open during the lectures.
The participants are supported via the learning platform . Additional supporting learning materials (slides for working through the learning videos, learning booklets and self-learning tests to check your own learning progress) are provided here. The courses can also be used by students who do not have the opportunity to have their participation at their university recognized. In addition, the offer is open to all other interested parties who would like to continue their education.
The following courses are offered (as of summer semester 2019):
- Education for Sustainable Development ( Gerhard de Haan )
- Civic Ecology (Vincente Lopez)
- Desarrollo Sustentable - Fundamentos y Campos de Aplicación (Carlos R. Barrenechea)
- Energy transition (Craig Morris)
- Social commitment to sustainable development through foundations
- Climate protection and adaptation (lecturers at Bremen universities)
- Literature, films, eGames and sustainability (Elisabeth Hollerweger)
- Human nutrition and ecological consequences (Klaus Hahlbrock)
- Sustainable development ( Michael von Hauff , Nicola Seitz, Elena Brosch)
- Sustainable Management ( Georg Müller-Christ )
- Sustainability and business administration (lecturers from the Association of University Lecturers for Business Administration (VHB))
- Sustainability Marketing (Frank-Martin Belz, Ken Peattie)
- Technology, energy and sustainability (Helmut Horn, Stefan Gößling-Reisemann, Matthias Brandt)
- Tourism management in the field of tension between sustainability (Claudia Brözel)
- Transition Management ( Uwe Schneidewind )
- World population and global migration (Rainer Münz, Albert F. Reiterer)
- World Financial System and Sustainability (Dirk Solte)
- World in Transition ( German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU))
literature
- Ahel, Vagts (2019): The Virtual Academy Sustainability: Digitized Education for Sustainable Development. Synergie specialist magazine for digitization in teaching, issue 7, pp. 54–57. University of Hamburg. DOI: 10.25592 / issn2509-3096.007
- Dembski, Lingenau (2015): Virtual Academy Sustainability - Everyone can learn sustainability! UWF UmweltWirtschaftsForum, Volume 23, Issue 3, pp. 117–121. Springer Published by Heidelberg. DOI: 10.1007 / s00550-015-0356-5
- Dembski, Müller-Christ, Ogurol, Hillmann (2012): Video-based courses as new learning formats - experiences and potentials, pp. 77–93 in: Apostolopoulos, Mußmann, Coy, Schwill (eds.): Basic questions of multimedia teaching and learning. From innovation to sustainability, conference proceedings GML2 2012 , ISBN 978-3-8309-2686-3
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ahel & Vagts (2019): The Virtual Academy Sustainability: digitized education for sustainable development In: Synergie specialist magazine for digitization in teaching, Volume 7, University of Hamburg, pp. 54–57. Retrieved July 16, 2019.
- ↑ Virtual Academy Sustainability - Awarded as a place of learning Website UNESCO World Action Program: Education for Sustainable Development. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
- ↑ UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development, conference report, March 31–2. April 2009, Bonn
- ↑ German UNESCO Commission eV: “Universities for Sustainable Development” (PDF; 3.4 MB), 2011, pp. 38–39
- ↑ Virtual Academy Sustainability: Participating universities Website of the Virtual Academy Sustainability. Retrieved July 15, 2019.