2020 Transformative Learning Conference

Expanding Transformative Learning Contexts

Sustainability is a lens through which individuals view the world. It involves a shift in mindset that begins with the acknowledgment that individual actions, societal mechanisms, business practices, and more can be deemed either sustainable or unsustainable.  

A disorienting dilemma often follows when students recognize that many societal paradigms with which they interact are in some ways incongruent with what they might consider sustainable. Predominant systems of food, water, energy, waste, and development are fraught with mechanisms that are destructive to the environment, people, plants, and animals. How can educators best guide students through these transformations and ensure that they come out ready to help solve the challenges of climate change and unsustainable paradigms?

Building on current literature and theory, sustainability pedagogy (SP) incorporates several themes, including systems theory, transformative learning, critical reflection, experiential learning, and place-based learning. SP offers a framework through which sustainability educators can create opportunities for transformation, as well as successfully help navigate students through these experiences.

This session will discuss the challenges and opportunities in introducing students to sustainability as a lens within which to view society. Attendees can expect to be introduced to sustainability pedagogy and how it relates to transformative learning theory, and how it's utilized in the curricular and co-curricular programming at UCO. The presenters will guide participants through creating a sustainability experience that incorporates these themes.