Transforming academic knowledge and the concept of Lived Experience: Intervention Competence in an international e-learning programme.

Pérez Salgado, Francisca; Wilson, Gordon and van der Klink, Marcel (2014). Transforming academic knowledge and the concept of Lived Experience: Intervention Competence in an international e-learning programme. In: Azeiteiro, Ulisses Miranda; Leal Filho, Walter and Caeiro, Sandra eds. E-Learning and Education for Sustainability. Environmental Education, Communication and Sustainability (35). Frankfurt am Main: Springer, pp. 59–70.

URL: http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?event=cmp.ccc.s...

Abstract

Within sustainability issues climate change is recognised as one of the most challenging and defining for our future. However, the learning and teaching in this field is perceived by students as complex and contradictory, and it leaves them with uncertainties with respect to their professional practice. This paper describes a solution to flaws observed in university programmes.

The concept of the Lived Experience explains the existence of several perspectives at the same time. It connects abstract and distant scientific knowledge with personal, local and cultural diversity. It treats epistemological diversity as a resource for social learning and holistic knowledge. The authors consider this concept to be important and perhaps even crucial for the domain of sustainability, where it can be used to expand knowledge and linking academia with professionals and citizens.

In an open access Masters track called the ‘Lived Experience of Climate Change’, the learning goals and outcomes are operationalised using the concept of ‘competence’. Complementing Transboundary Competence, this paper focuses on Intervention Competence. Intervention Competence combines strategic-political thinking with personal goal-directedness, formulating solutions and actions for climate change issues, in awareness of societal aspects. Thus the student’s ability to transform academic knowledge to sustainable solutions is developed.

By adding Intervention Competence to university programmes, students are encouraged to engage with each other and their teachers to propose realistic and sustainable solutions to sustainability challenges. They use their diversity as a resource, a process that may be enhanced by virtual mobility arrangements between several universities.

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