Poslední úprava: Andrew George Barton (13.02.2012)
* Sustainability and Globalisation
Co-organized by the Charles University Environment Centre and Institute for Environmental & Sustainability Communication, Leuphana University Lüneburg.
The "Interdisciplinary Study Program on Sustainability and Globalisation" creates an effective learning environment for international and interdisciplinary learning for sustainable development. The two semester learning study program consisting of e-learning in 3 modules rounded off by a Summer School where all of the students will learn collaboratively from practical examples (held in the Ore Mountains - Erzgebirge - Krušné hory area). Modules are relatively independent and students may enrol separately in each of them.
Module 3: Global and regional sustainability: case study analysis
- Identification of complex interrelations in human-environmental systems
- Case study analysis - environmental problems of the selected region
- Procedures of democratic decission-making in theory and practice
* Introduction:
A thorough knowledge of one discipline is no longer enough to grasp the complexity of the real world. In order to make informed decisions and to be able to identify the most pressing problems, awareness of major development trends in various inter-related areas is essential. This module is focused on the problems and challenges of global and especially regional sustainability; in addition, it offers methods and knowledge for the identification of strategies and solutions for democratic decision making. The aim is to foster students' critical and interdisciplinary thinking, and their ability to work in a heterogeneous environment; the outcome of the course is active contribution by means of a case study analysis and research under local circumstances.
There will be support for an exchange of experiences between students of different backgrounds. The module provides an opportunity to collaborate on tasks, find common strategies and constructively comment on each other's products.
English skills as well as methods of sustainability assessment will be developed.
* Didactic concept:
The didactic concept of the seminar is that of virtual collaborative learning. The course will lead you step by step from 1) understanding problems from different perspectives, to 2) finding solutions based on provided methodology, to 3) the more advanced and comprehensive ability to cooperate on the problem with others. In each step, anayltical skills and sustainability assessment methods will be taught and students will become confident in dealing with complex issues.
The aim of the course is fulfilled as a constructivist task; active learning and critical thinking objectives are met. Students' work will create a useful product - a Wiki text as an introduction to the problem and a project proposal - that may be suitable for further work in the summer school. The course provides realistic visions and tools and thus should serve as valuable preparation for future work in the DBU study programme.
* Goals and learning objectives:
Lend support to the students' overall perspective and let them express their own value-based standpoint,
Navigate through global and regional issues for non-specialists, where integration of different perspectives and an emphasis on links and relations is the rule;
Reflect on various approaches to sustainability assessment in global and regional context;
Develop and analyse regional case study from a sustainable development perspective;
Provide background for democratic decission-making;
Produce a text as the basis for a practical case study investigation.
Enable students to analyse and evaluate (individual) approaches and policies for sustainable development;
Develop skills in communication with students from diverse disciplinary and cultural backgrounds in ICT.
The form of learning includes cross-border collaboration to enhance intercultural understanding and the exchange of knowledge and thus consists (in 3 modules) of virtual components and an ICT supported learning environment. The special learning settings used follow the paradigm of situated and constructivist learning; the use of certain web 2.0 applications represent an innovative approach to the learning process and will provide an excellent environment for team collaboration and knowledge management for education for sustainable development (ESD).
Module 3: 7 weeks, 3 credits, 90 hours
* Stages of the Seminar:
* Assignment:
Assessment of students is continuous - points are awarded for a variety of tasks in the 5 stages of the course, including communication and written tasks. To evaluate the course, you will be asked to fill in several questionnaires and individual learning reflection records.
All participants will be invited to gradually contribute to a common educational environment by
- Delivering an introductory text in a required format;
- including your text in the Wiki space;
- writing a more extensive analysis of the problem in a practical context and developing a case study outline;
- investigating research on the value foundations of the issue under consideration.
- The assessment and marking is based on an individual report at the end of the seminar.
* Literature:
All resources will be available online.
Selected readings:
Antrop, M. (2005). Why landscapes of the past are important for the future. Landscape and urban planning, 70(1-2), 21-34.
Hanski, I. (2005). Landscape fragmentation, biodiversity loss and the societal response. EMBO reports, 6(5), 388.
Heimpold, G. (2008). Growth versus equalisation? An examination of strategies for regional policy in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland after EU accession. Jahrbuch f\ür Regionalwissenschaft, 28(1), 1-29.
Jones, M. (2011). The European Landscape Convention: Challenges of Participation (Roč. 13). Springer Verlag.
Ladysz, J. (2006). Chosen aspects of sustainable development on the Polish, Czech and German borderland. GeoJournal, 67(1), 1-7.
Leibenath, M., & Knippschild, R. (2007). Territorial Cohesion and Transboundary Governance: Insights from the Polish-German and the Czech-German Borders. Territorial Cohesion, 123-150.
Leibenath, M., Blum, A., & Stutzriemer, S. (2010). Transboundary cooperation in establishing ecological networks: The case of Germany’s external borders. Landscape and Urban Planning, 94(2), 84-93.
Noro, Hiroko. "Ecological Perspectives." Encyclopedia of Case Study Research. 2009. SAGE Publications. 14 May. 2010.
Reed, M. S., Fraser, E. D. ., & Dougill, A. J. (2006). An adaptive learning process for developing and applying sustainability indicators with local communities. Ecological Economics, 59(4), 406-418.
