Teaching Sustainability, Responsiblity for Educators and Universities

U21 Education Innovation Symposium was held online from February 16th to 17th. This year, the theme of U21 symposium focuses on "Teaching for Sustainability", with sessions including "Introduction to Teaching for Sustainability", "Teaching Approaches", "Faculty Development", and "Looking Beyond the Campus: Partnerships for Sustainability". Faculty members from SOE, Dr. Chen Shuhua, and Dr. Yan Xiaomei attended the symposium.

Screenshot from Dr. Chen Shuhua

During the session, Dr. Kes McCormick, Professor from Lund University, told his story about teaching five sustainability-related MOOCs, which are based on the concepts of layered teaching and interactive learning. Gray Kochhar-Lindgren, Director of the Common Core at Hong Kong University, shared his teaching philosophy of integrating SDGs (sustainability development goals) into cross-disciplinary curriculum.

Screenshot from Dr. Yan Xiaomei

Dr. Yan Xiaomei says the symposium is an inspiring meeting on sustainability education. She has got precious suggestions on developing sustainable teaching and also fostering international collaborations on the topic. Hopefully, there will be more collaborations on this area among U21 members. Dr. Chen Shuhua believes that in the post-pandemic era, a systematic innovation orientation has become more important in education, and changes in curriculum, pedagogy, teaching environment, and educational technology has no longer remained a fantasy. Universities, therefore, should focus on training students for the future society, teaching them to learn in an inter-disciplinary way, which is also an important mission of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.