The SusTEACH Methodology: Assessment of the environmental impacts of Higher Education Teaching Models and development of an Environmental Appraisal toolkit

Caird, Sally; Swithenby, Edward and Lane, Andrew (2015). The SusTEACH Methodology: Assessment of the environmental impacts of Higher Education Teaching Models and development of an Environmental Appraisal toolkit. The Open University.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.1949.9924

Abstract

Sustainable, low carbon Higher Education (HE) teaching systems are part of the carbon reduction strategies needed to meet the targets set for HE institutions. Significant changes in the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have led to new methods in teaching and learning, blending conventional and ICT-based teaching models. Little is known about their environmental impacts. Few studies have considered the whole system carbon-based environmental impacts of different systems of delivering Higher Education. One notable exception was the Factor 10 Visions study ‘Towards Sustainable Higher Education’, which offered an exemplar methodology for conducting an environmental impact audit/assessment of HE courses/modules. Building on this, the SusTEACH project examined the transformative effect of ICTs on HE teaching models, and developed a methodology to assess the main carbon-based environmental impacts of HE courses/modules, and to provide estimations of the energy and carbon impacts associated with different HE teaching models. This methodology as outlined here has supported the SusTEACH project research analysis of over thirty HE courses and modules, and the SusTEACH toolkit available from OpenLearn Module: The environmental impact of teaching and learning.

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