Some courses will be able to incorporate sustainability more directly than others. You may find it quite easy to spot a natural point of insertion for sustainability concepts in your class, or you may be at a loss for how to even connect the concepts in an indirect way. This module will help you to find connections.
Let’s start by working through an introductory thought process that is designed to help you approach weaving sustainability into your class activities. Please choose one of the classes you teach and work through the following questions.
1. Are you prevented from incorporating sustainability due to limitations of the course (such as a course that is beholden to certain accreditation standards)?
Since you cannot directly weave sustainability into the course, how can you help learners develop sustainability competencies, such as futures thinking, adaptability, or systems thinking?
That’s great! This toolkit will give you a lot of ideas about how you can directly and indirectly thread sustainability into your course.
2. Is sustainability a focus in your sector?
How is your sector addressing sustainability, and how can you bring that real-world component into your class?
It’s okay if you do not currently see a path to adding sustainability into your course. The important thing is that you’re here and you’re ready to learn. Your next step is to keep moving through this toolkit to gain ideas for how sustainability might fit in with your subject. As you move forward, keep in mind that you can look for ways to integrate competencies that contribute to a sustainability mindset rather than sustainability itself.
After working through the questions above, you should now have some beginning ideas about how you might integrate sustainability in your course. If you are still struggling to find how sustainability is relevant to your subject matter, do not worry: you will explore plenty of ideas on the next page and throughout this toolkit. You will likely find that your feelings will change as you advance your knowledge of sustainability.