Education for sustainability:
opportunities and challenges for
online and distance education
Presenters:
Rick Fisher & Allan Smee
Open Polytechnic of New Zealand
About the presenters
Rick
- environmental sciences (teaching, research, practice)
- environmental lawyer
- recent graduate: Open Polytechnic Certificate in Designing &
Facilitating E-Learning
Allan
- E-learning advisor
Objectives

To provide a context for online education
in a “cleaner, greener” teaching
environment
 To point out the special nexus that exists
between EfS and traditional distance
education
 To provide an opportunity to explore new
e-learning technologies which may be
helpful to EfS at various teaching levels
About The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand
30,000 full/part-time students
 130 programmes/1500 courses
offered by three schools – certificate
to degree
 Delivery primarily via distance
education
 Some blended delivery
 Growing role for e-learning

Key definitions:
Education for sustainability:
“A multidisciplinary approach to learning that develops the
knowledge, awareness, attitudes, values and skills that will enable
individuals and the community towards maintaining and
improving the quality of the environment” (MfEnvt 1996)
Traditional distance education:
“Geographical separation of teacher and learner, where the gap is
bridged by posted course materials, and some form of
communication, whether by letter or telephone” (Peters, 2009)
E-learning:
Learning that is facilitated by the use of digital tools and content,
typically involving some kind of interactivity between learners and
their teacher or peers (MoEd 2004)
Out with the old….
In with the new…
Is distance education greener?
Open University (UK) carbon calculation study:
 Travel and classrooms are the biggest sources of carbon
consumption
 Distance learning courses led to a whopping 87% less
energy and 85% lower CO2 emissions than full-time, faceto-face, campus-based courses
 Within that overall saving, on-line courses showed a fairly
minor 20% reduction in energy and 12% reduction in CO2
emissions when compared to print-based courses
FOR MORE INFO...
Roy, R. & Potter, S. (2008). Int J Sust Higher Ed 9:116-130
Is this the face of the future?
clean, green
New Zealand’s most sustainable education provider
Key steps before claiming green legitimacy in
education delivery







An environmental policy
Support for the policy by senior management
An environmental audit
Consultation with stakeholders
Action
Modelling sustainability in operations and
curriculum
Result: a framework for legitimacy
Anywhere, anytime
….and anyone
The goals of EfS
To inform across
age/culture/geography
 To reach out/gain critical mass
 To empower
 To facilitate transformative learning

Isn’t this what DE already does?
Shared characteristics: EfS and DE








Neither require a computer
Both attempt to reach geographically isolated students &
disadvantaged/marginalised students
Underlying learning pedagogies are similar:
-both emphasise vocational education outcomes
-both cater to the needs of adult learners
-both promote transformative learning
-both promote learning that is internally motivated
-both promote learning that is self-directed, with enhanced
personal meaning
FOR MORE INFO...
Fisher, R.M. (2008). New Zealand Ann. Rev. Ed. 18:31-46.
Where does e-learning fit?
Key e-learning teaching pedagogies:
 Acknowledge different learning styles
 Develop online programs to enable any-time and
any-place learning
 Encourage active learning
 Develop online content within a relevant context
 Allow for repeated (formative) self-assessment
Good things about e-learning and EfS

Delivery: anything that cuts down
transportation costs is good
 Delivery: communities of (local) learners
are possible, with local wisdom
 Niche education is possible
 Pedagogy: e-learning promotes many of
the same attributes as DE
A few problems…





E-learning isn’t primarily for distance
education
E-learning requires a computer or similar
device(and usually online access)
There is no national e-learning strategy
E-learning (in the context of EfS) gets little
attention in tertiary education strategy
E-technologies may not be overly green
Nonetheless….
E-learning has an important role to
play in education.
E-learning Advantages over
Traditional Distance Education

Collaboration
“Digital communications technologies have fractured the tyranny of distance beyond repair”
Wheeler S.(2009)
–

Increases the ability of the learning to communicate with their peers, lecturer/s and wider
community
Students are able to contributed ideas, concepts and examples from their on
experiences via
–
–
–
Blogs – online journals
Wikis – online collaborative knowledge bases
Podcasting- online audio presentations
and receive timely feedback from peers and lecturer/s

Use of real-time /online data
–
Data sharing
•
–
Simulations
•
–
Google Maps and Google Earth - http://earth.google.com/outreach/showcase.html which allow
organisation map environmental impacts etc
View the cause and effective of different choices
Problem Based Learning
•
Developed potentials solutions to problem and review the impact of there choices.
FOR MORE INFO...
Wheeler , S. (2009) Digital Tribes and Virtual Clans in
Wheeler (Ed) Connected Minds and Emerging Cultures pp65-79 Charlotte :USA Information Age Publishing
Flexibility of Delivery

Delivery of content isn’t restricted to one media
–
–
–
–
–

Web based
CD ROM or USB Drive
Mobile Phones, Smart Phones, PDA
Gaming Platforms i.e. Play station, X Box and Wii’s
and even printed based
Content can developed to be delivery format free.
– Delivery method is up to the end user.
Reducing the impact

Reuse content
– Content developed as Reusable
Learning Objects (RLOs ) can be share
across the Learning community
• Why reinvent the wheel
FOR MORE INFO...
See Merlot (www.merlot.org) a collection of online learning
materials that can incorporated in courses
Reducing the impact

Developed and use Green IT
practices in your E-Learning.
– Promote “Green IT” practices to
learners
• Turn off computers when not in use
– Use Green Data Centres
• Google http://www.google.com/corporate/green/