IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i17p9884-d628005.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Learning to Collaborate from Diverse Interactions in Project-Based Sustainability Courses

Author

Listed:
  • Theres Konrad

    (Center for Global Sustainability and Cultural Transformation, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, 21335 Lüneburg, Germany)

  • Arnim Wiek

    (School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA)

  • Matthias Barth

    (Institute for Sustainable Development and Learning, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, 21335 Lüneburg, Germany)

Abstract

Project-based sustainability courses require and facilitate diverse interactions among students, instructors, stakeholders, and mentors. Most project-based courses take an instrumental approach to these interactions, so that they support the overall project deliverables. However, as courses primarily intend to build students’ key competencies in sustainability, including the competence to collaborate in teams and with stakeholders, there are opportunities to utilize these interactions more directly to build students’ interpersonal competence. This study offers insights from project-based sustainability courses at universities in Germany, the U.S., Switzerland, and Spain to empirically explore such opportunities. We investigate how students develop interpersonal competence by learning from (rather than through) their interactions with peers, instructors, stakeholders, and mentors. The findings can be used by course instructors, curriculum designers, and program administrators to more deliberately use the interactions with peers, instructors, stakeholders, and mentors in project-based sustainability courses for developing students’ competence to successfully collaborate in teams and with stakeholders.

Suggested Citation

  • Theres Konrad & Arnim Wiek & Matthias Barth, 2021. "Learning to Collaborate from Diverse Interactions in Project-Based Sustainability Courses," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-15, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:17:p:9884-:d:628005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/17/9884/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/17/9884/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anette Oxenswärdh & Ulrika Persson-Fischier, 2020. "Mapping Master Students’ Processes of Problem Solving and Learning in Groups in Sustainability Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-14, June.
    2. James Ayers & Jayne Bryant & Merlina Missimer, 2020. "The Use of Reflective Pedagogies in Sustainability Leadership Education—A Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-21, August.
    3. Gemma Tejedor & Jordi Segalàs & Ángela Barrón & Mónica Fernández-Morilla & M. Teresa Fuertes & Jorge Ruiz-Morales & Ibón Gutiérrez & Esther García-González & Pilar Aramburuzabala & Àngels Hernández, 2019. "Didactic Strategies to Promote Competencies in Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-24, April.
    4. Thomas Macintyre & Martha Chaves & Tatiana Monroy & Margarita O. Zethelius & Tania Villarreal & Valentina C. Tassone & Arjen E. J. Wals, 2020. "Transgressing Boundaries between Community Learning and Higher Education: Levers and Barriers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-24, March.
    5. James Ayers, 2020. "Competence Literate but Context Lacking? Investigating the Potential of Study Abroad Programs to Promote Sustainability Competence Acquisition in Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-18, July.
    6. Katja Brundiers & Arnim Wiek, 2013. "Do We Teach What We Preach? An International Comparison of Problem- and Project-Based Learning Courses in Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-22, April.
    7. United Nations UN, 2015. "Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," Working Papers id:7559, eSocialSciences.
    8. Sandra Wilhelm & Ruth Förster & Anne B. Zimmermann, 2019. "Implementing Competence Orientation: Towards Constructively Aligned Education for Sustainable Development in University-Level Teaching-And-Learning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-22, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rui Zhang & Ji Shi & Jianwei Zhang, 2023. "Research on the Quality of Collaboration in Project-Based Learning Based on Group Awareness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-20, August.
    2. Na Li & Ping Jiang & Cuihong Li & Wei Wang, 2022. "College Teaching Innovation from the Perspective of Sustainable Development: The Construction and Twelve-Year Practice of the 2P3E4R System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-16, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kifah Imara & Fahriye Altinay, 2021. "Integrating Education for Sustainable Development Competencies in Teacher Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-17, November.
    2. Fermín Sánchez-Carracedo & Jordi Segalas & Gorka Bueno & Pere Busquets & Joan Climent & Victor G. Galofré & Boris Lazzarini & David Lopez & Carme Martín & Rafael Miñano & Estíbaliz Sáez de Cámara & Bá, 2021. "Tools for Embedding and Assessing Sustainable Development Goals in Engineering Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-30, November.
    3. Lorenz Probst, 2022. "Higher Education for Sustainability: A Critical Review of the Empirical Evidence 2013–2020," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-24, March.
    4. Ankui Hu & Xianhui Mao & Chenghua Fu & Mengkun Wu & Shuai Zhou, 2023. "Engineering Curriculum Reform Based on Outcome-Based Education and Five-Color Psychology Theory," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-20, June.
    5. Norita Ahmad & Maria Toro-Troconis & Mohammed Ibahrine & Rose Armour & Victoria Tait & Katharine Reedy & Romas Malevicius & Vicki Dale & Nathalie Tasler & Yuma Inzolia, 2023. "CoDesignS Education for Sustainable Development: A Framework for Embedding Education for Sustainable Development in Curriculum Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-24, November.
    6. Pere Busquets & Jordi Segalas & Antonio Gomera & Miguel Antúnez & Jorge Ruiz-Morales & Silvia Albareda-Tiana & Rafael Miñano, 2021. "Sustainability Education in the Spanish Higher Education System: Faculty Practice, Concerns and Needs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-14, July.
    7. Míriam Hernández-Barco & Jesús Sánchez-Martín & José Blanco-Salas & Trinidad Ruiz-Téllez, 2020. "Teaching Down to Earth —Service-Learning Methodology for Science Education and Sustainability at the University Level: A Practical Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-23, January.
    8. Lourdes Molera & Eugenio José Sánchez-Alcázar & Úrsula Faura-Martínez & Matilde Lafuente-Lechuga & Juan Vicente Llinares-Ciscar & Joaquín Longinos Marín-Rives & Pedro Juan Martín-Castejón & María Carm, 2021. "Embedding Sustainability in the Economics Degree of the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Murcia: A Methodological Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-19, August.
    9. Małgorzata Gawlik-Kobylińska, 2021. "Can Security and Safety Education Support Sustainability? Lessons Learned from Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-13, February.
    10. Dolors Cañabate & Maria Luisa Garcia-Romeu & Anna Menció & Lluís Nogué & Marta Planas & Joan Solé-Pla, 2020. "Cross-Disciplinary Analysis of Cooperative Learning Dimensions Based on Higher Education Students’ Perceptions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(19), pages 1-17, October.
    11. Paulina Schiappacasse & Bernhard Müller & Le Thuy Linh, 2019. "Towards Responsible Aggregate Mining in Vietnam," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-15, August.
    12. Pina Puntillo, 2023. "Circular economy business models: Towards achieving sustainable development goals in the waste management sector—Empirical evidence and theoretical implications," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(2), pages 941-954, March.
    13. Schlör, Holger & Venghaus, Sandra & Hake, Jürgen-Friedrich, 2018. "The FEW-Nexus city index – Measuring urban resilience," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 382-392.
    14. Jean-Louis Combes & Alexandru Minea & Pegdéwendé Nestor Sawadogo, 2019. "Assessing the effects of combating illicit financial flows on domestic tax revenue mobilization in developing countries," CERDI Working papers halshs-02019073, HAL.
    15. Nelson, Ewan & Warren, Peter, 2020. "UK transport decoupling: On track for clean growth in transport?," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 39-51.
    16. Ibrahim Ari & Muammer Koc, 2018. "Sustainable Financing for Sustainable Development: Understanding the Interrelations between Public Investment and Sovereign Debt," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-25, October.
    17. R. Ebrahimi & S. Choobchian & H. Farhadian & I. Goli & E. Farmandeh & H. Azadi, 2022. "Investigating the effect of vocational education and training on rural women’s empowerment," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    18. Jung Eon Kwon & Hyung Rok Woo, 2017. "The Impact of Flipped Learning on Cooperative and Competitive Mindsets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-15, December.
    19. Benjamin Nölting & Bettina König & Anne B. Zimmermann & Antonietta Di Giulio & Martina Schäfer & Flurina Schneider, 2022. "Dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic: an opportunity to reflect on sustainability research," NachhaltigkeitsManagementForum | Sustainability Management Forum, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 11-27, December.
    20. Amy Roberts & Gregory S. Ching, 2021. "The Ebb and Flow of Study Abroad: A Comparative Analysis of PRC and International Students in Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-18, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:17:p:9884-:d:628005. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.