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2022　Education for Sustainable Development through Design and Technology

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Academic unit or major
Graduate major in Global Engineering for Development, Environment and Society
Instructor(s)
Thanapornsangsuth Sawaros 
Class Format
Lecture / Exercise    (Livestream)
Media-enhanced courses
Day/Period(Room No.)
Mon7-8()  Thr7-8()  
Group
-
Course number
GEG.I411
Credits
2
Academic year
2022
Offered quarter
1Q
Syllabus updated
2022/4/4
Lecture notes updated
-
Language used
English
Access Index

Course description and aims

This course focuses on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as the unifying theme on different sustainability aspects, such as climate changes, responsible consumption, resource management, gender equality, recent pandemic, and other pressing global issues. ESD is increasingly perceived as a catalyst for innovation in education. It empowers communities and individuals to have a critical understanding of the underlying and interconnected issues and be part of the solutions. Moreover, ESD emphasizes a vital role of education and lifelong learning in achieving the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and moving towards a sustainable future.

In this course, students will discuss and explore social, economic, and environmental issues within and beyond students' localities while sharing their solutions with other group members. Ultimately, each group will investigate the social and environmental problems of their interest through various user experience research methods. Guest speakers from different fields related to the SDGs will also be invited to provide the students with new perspectives to kick start their project ideas. The second part of the course focuses on designing and creating innovative solutions to their choice's local or global sustainability issue, using the design thinking process and fabrication tools. Engaging in a maker-centered learning environment, this hands-on, project-based course provides the students' opportunities to design and create. The final project aims to foster the skills, knowledge, awareness, and attitudes to help the students address the identified issues and build a sustainable future.

Student learning outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
1. Gain a better understanding of local or global sustainability issues through class lectures, assignments, group work, final innovation projects, and personal exploration.
2. Understand the roles of education and project-based learning as significant tools for empowering learners towards the Sustainable Development Goals
3. Analyse local and global sustainability issues and identify target users to better understand the users' stories, backgrounds, and challenges using user experience (UX) research methods.
4. Work in teams to brainstorm, research, and experiment with new ideas toward addressing the sustainability issues of their choices.
5. Design and create an intervention, method, or tool appropriate for the target users' needs.
6. Integrate technology and fabrication tools into the social inventions' design, making, and iteration process.
7. Evaluate the feasibility, sustainability, and scalability of the project.

Keywords

Sustainability, Education for Sustainable Development, Maker education, constructionism, user experience, design thinking

Competencies that will be developed

Specialist skills Intercultural skills ✔ Communication skills ✔ Critical thinking skills ✔ Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

At the beginning of each class, we will present students' feedback (challenges, worries, accomplishments) from the previous lesson. Depending on the weekly topic, lectures and readings will be discussed. In some weeks, guest speakers will be invited and share their experience on specific Sustainable Development Goals. If it is a studio week, students can work independently with their teammates. Towards the end of class, students work with other classmates on exercise problems or case studies related to the lecture given that day. They will be asked to submit a short weekly feedback form. To prepare for class, students should read the course schedule section and check what topics will be covered. Required learning should be completed outside of the classroom.

Course schedule/Required learning

  Course schedule Required learning
Class 1 Class introduction and expectations. • Learning goals • Overview of the assignments Understand the overview and the expectations of the course
Class 2 Lecture and discussion: Introduction to the Sustainable Development Goals • Students' strength mapping and pitch • Team forming Understand the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals and articulate the goals that the students are most related to.
Class 3 Introduction to Design Thinking (Brown, 2008) Class activity: • d.school's "Gift Giving" Class activity from recycled trash Understand an overview of design thinking (empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test) and can collaborate with other students in the class creatively.
Class 4 Empathy and Social Innovation • What is empathy? • How can empathizing with social and environmental problems lead to innovation? • What are the tools to help us better empathize with others? Understand the importance of empathy in designing particularly social and environmental problems.
Class 5 Selected SDGs Topic: • Introduction to Education for Sustainable Development: Why education? • SDG4: Education 2030 Agenda • ESD and lifelong learning Analyze the importance of education in supporting the SDGs and cultivating active citizens.
Class 6 Defining the Problems • How to create a problem statement? • How can we better identify the problem of the users? Perspective Session on Selected SDGs Topic: • Good Health and Well-being: Caring Dementia Patients • Guest speaker: Poosanu Thanapornsangsuth, MD, Chulalongkorn Hospital Able to identify problems or challenges of the targeted users. Understand the problems of dementia and dementia patients' caregivers.
Class 7 Perspective Session on Selected SDGs Topic: • Inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all: Pandemic and the Digital Divide • Guest speaker: Karen Page, Associate Director of Professional Development at Center for Technology & School Change, Columbia University Understand and analyze the challenges of teachers, parents, and students during remote learning.
Class 8 Perspective Session on Selected SDGs Topic: • Responsible consumption and production: Fast Fashion • Guest speaker: Kamonnart Ongwandee, 30 Under 30 - Asia, Fashion Revolution Thailand Understand and analyze the environmental price in the fast fashion industry.
Class 9 Brainstorming • How to generate new and creative ideas for solving SDGs challenges? • How to select the right idea for the user's problem statement? Able to ideate, categorize, and select new and innovative ideas for the team's final project.
Class 10 Low-fidelity Prototype • What is a prototype, and why does it important for creating innovation? • How to create a low-fidelity prototype? Understand the concept of prototyping and create a quick sketch or physical prototype as a team.
Class 11 Final Project Check-in: User Testing • Students presented their user feedback after showing the team's low-fidelity prototype to the users. • Students work in a team to improve their final projects. Present the team's feedback from the users on the prototype. Reflect on what the team has to iterate on their final design.
Class 12 Studio hours 1 • Students work independently with their team members to build the final project that addresses users' needs on the SDGs challenges. • Fabrication materials and makerspace are available for the students to access. Design and create a final project with the team members that addresses challenge(s) on the selected SDGs.
Class 13 Studio hours 2 • Students work independently with their team members to build the final project that addresses users' needs on the SDGs challenges. • Fabrication materials and makerspace are available for the students to access. Design and create a final project with the team members that addresses challenge(s) on the selected SDGs.
Class 14 Studio hours 3 • Students work independently with their team members to build the final project that addresses users' needs on the SDGs challenges. • Fabrication materials and makerspace are available for the students to access. Design and create a final project with the team members that addresses challenge(s) on the selected SDGs.
Class 15 Final Project Showcase •Students present their final projects to the class and the public audience. Present the final project to the class and the public audience. Respond and reflect on the given feedback.

Out-of-Class Study Time (Preparation and Review)

To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.

Textbook(s)

Norman, D. (2013). The design of everyday things: Revised and expanded edition. Basic books.

Reference books, course materials, etc.

• Brown, T. (2008). Design thinking. Harvard business review, 86(6), 84.
• Certo, S. T., & Miller, T. (2008). Social entrepreneurship: Key issues and concepts. Business horizons, 51(4), 267-271.
• d.School (2016). Wallet Exercise. https://www.teachingentrepreneurship.org/design-thinking101/
• González‐Salvador, T., Lyketsos, C. G., Baker, A., Hovanec, L., Roques, C., Brandt, J., & Steele, C. (2000). Quality of life in dementia patients in long‐term care. International journal of geriatric psychiatry, 15(2), 181-189.
• Nielsen Norman Group (1998-2021) https://www.nngroup.com/articles/which-ux-research- methods/
• Niinimäki, K., Peters, G., Dahlbo, H., Perry, P., Rissanen, T., & Gwilt, A. (2020). The environmental price of fast fashion. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 1(4), 189-200.
• Resnick, M. (2014, August). Give P’s a chance: Projects, peers, passion, play. In Constructionism and creativity: Proceedings of the third international constructionism conference. Austrian computer society, Vienna (pp. 13-20).
• Takeuchi, L., Martin, C. K., & Barron, B. (2021). Learning Together: Adapting Methods for Family and Community Research during a Pandemic. In Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop. Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop. 1900 Broadway, New York, NY 10023.
• Sachs, J., Kroll, C., Lafortune, G., Fuller, G., & Woelm, F. (2021). Sustainable Development Report 2021. Cambridge University Press.
• Thanapornsangsuth, S. (2016, October). Using Human-centered design and social inventions to find the purposes in making. In Proceedings of the 6th Annual Conference on Creativity and Fabrication in Education (pp. 17-25)
• UNESCO. (2020). UNESCO Covid-19 Education Response Series: Open and distance learning to support youth and adult learning. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000373815
• Wiek, A., Withycombe, L., & Redman, C. L. (2011). Key competencies in sustainability: a reference framework for academic program development. Sustainability science, 6(2), 203-218.

Assessment criteria and methods

Midterm report 20%; Final project 30%; In-class assignment 30%; Class participation 20%

Related courses

  • n/a

Prerequisites (i.e., required knowledge, skills, courses, etc.)

n/a

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