A Mixed Methods Longitudinal Study On Learning Results In An Innovative Study Model - First Qualitative Results In HESD

Author(s):

Anna Sundermann(presenting / submitting)Simon Burandt

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

30. Environmental and Sustainability Education Research (ESER)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

30 SES 04 A, ESE in Higher Education

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-03

09:00-10:30

Room:

B119 Sala de Aulas

Chair:

Matthias Barth

Contribution

Universities can play an important role for shaping the future of the world society in terms of sustainable development “by addressing sustainability through their major functions of education, research and outreach” (Mochizuki & Fadeeva, 2010, p. 250). Many universities from all over the world have already initiated activities in terms of Higher Education for Sustainable Development (HESD) (cf. Adomssent, Beringer, & Barth, 2009; Adomssent & Michelsen, 2006; Barth, 2013; Mochizuki & Fadeeva, 2010). Against the background of global change and increasing complexity, Higher Education for Sustainable Development aims at enabling people to not only acquire and generate knowledge, but also to reflect on further effects and the complexity of behaviour and decisions in a future-oriented and global perspective of responsibility. Consequently, absolutely essential is a new learning culture which does not confirm academic tradition but examines its potential for a sustainable future, in an open-minded, reflexive and participative process.

In recent years, the Leuphana University of Lüneburg (Germany) has carried out the necessary restructuring of the existing higher education curriculum within the framework of the so-called Bologna process as an opportunity to fundamentally change its courses of study. Within this process, the consideration of sustainable development as a guiding principle played a crucial role. The reorientation of university curricula under the framework of the Bologna Process was used to implement previous experiences in HESD. Since the winter semester of 2007/08, all Bachelor programmes at Leuphana University follow a single study model, which consists of a Major, a Minor, complementary studies and the Leuphana Semester as the first study semester (Barth & Timm, 2011). This Leuphana Bachelor is characterised by a compulsory module on sustainability (called ‘Science bears Responsibility’) for all students in the first semester and also sustainability related modules within the so called complementary studies (three additional modules) during the following semesters. One third of the first semester is completely devoted to the topic of sustainability. Students of all subjects work under the overall theme of ‘Responsibility’ on the question how the concept of sustainable development may be used as a normative framework for responsible action.

Even though integration of ESD in higher education curricula is stipulated, so far there is only little research done on direct and long term effects on students – and when, research is done on effects of single courses (Barth & Rieckmann, 2013; Shephard et al., 2013; Shephard, Mann, Smith, & Deaker, 2009). Therefore in October 2012 a longitudinal study was initiated by the UNESCO Chair in higher education for sustainable development at Leuphana University of Lüneburg. The study is using a mixed method approach to examine the impacts of the study model on students ‘affective attributes, e.g. attitudes, values and interests. A revised methodological set was applied to the new cohort in October 2013 – now two cohorts are in the longitudinal study. Data is and will be collected every second semester. Whereas the quantitative evaluation archived a response rate of more than 50% of all students, in detail learning processes of the module “science bears responsibility” were investigated by group interviews. Our main interest is at first to benchmark these two cohorts and then monitor changes over time in affective attributes.

Method

The empirical design is related to a longitudinal study. Before and after the first semester, after the third and fifth semester as well as after the end of the Bachelor programme data is collected with quantitative surveys, with a particular focus on learning outcomes. Furthermore, the detailed learning processes are analysed in group interviews. Against this background in this paper we concentrate on the first results of the qualitative evaluation. In April 2013 we conducted seven group interviews with participants from the original quantitative panel of cohort I. Participants varied in their major studies and the mean age was ~22 years. In February 2014 we are going to conduct similar group interviews with a revised questionnaire and participants from the second cohort. The group interviews are hold by two moderators. We use semistructured interviews to explore needs, thoughts and learning processes of students. Furthermore, we try to identify effects and learning outcomes and learning barriers we might have missed in the quantitative questionnaire. Thematically we focus on overall satisfaction with the Leuphana semester, experiences with sustainability and believe in effectiveness of action concepts. All interviews have been transcripted and analyzed in manner of qualitative content analysis (Mayring, 2010). Finally we are going to compare and triangulate all data to monitor changes over time within and between student´s affective attributes. As a result we try to maximize our understanding of the effects of the full integration of sustainability in higher education.

Expected Outcomes

The results of the quantitative survey of the longitudinal study show that climate change, poverty and justice are top priority topics for the first semester students. A majority of the students has heard about sustainability and relates this concept especially with the conservation of natural resources, responsible behaviour and thinking in future generations. Already at the beginning of the first semester, differences in attitudes and behaviour can be observed between students from different Major courses (disciplines). Qualitative results derived from interviews explore needs, thoughts and learning processes of students especially in terms of learning outcomes and learning. Different types of students in terms of different learning processes and understanding of sustainability can be identified and described. So far it seems that different types of “sustainability-learners” do not correlate with different subjects of study, but with attitudes and previous knowledge and (previous) interest in sustainability. E.g. one type does not know much about sustainability and is “forced” to attend the ´responsibility´ module, but the module rouse his interest and later this type want to learn more. The qualitative data is also analyzed in order to identify barriers and motivations for learning. Different teaching and learning types are identified in relation to “sustainable” outcomes. Students are able to describe which types of teaching (also behavior of teaching staff) led to better outcomes and motivation. In this paper only the qualitative results of the study will be presented. Our next step will be a joint analysis of qualitative and quantitative data, in which we want to find out if different types of learners also differ in terms of perception of options to act sustainably, have different expectation of self-efficacy, attitudes and if/how much different study subject scan be a predictor for a change in affective attributes in context of sustainability competences.

References

Adomssent, M., Beringer, A., & Barth, M. (Hrsg.). (2009). World in Transition: Sustainability Perspectives for Higher Education. Bad Homburg v.d.H.: Verlag für akademische Schriften. Adomssent, M., & Michelsen, G. (2006). German Academia heading for Sustainability? Reflections on Policy and Practice in Teaching, Research and Institutional Innovations. Environmental Education Research, 12(1), 85–99. doi:10.1080/13504620500527758 Barth, M. (2013). Many Roads lead to Sustainability: A Process-oriented Analysis of Change in Higher Education. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 14(2), 160–175. doi:10.1108/14676371311312879 Barth, M., & Rieckmann, M. (2013). Current Trends and Approaches in Research in Higher Education for Sustainable Development - an International Litrature Review from 1992-2012. Poster presented at the 7th Conference of the Environmental Management for Sustainable Universities, Istanbul. Retrieved from about:newtab Barth, M., & Timm, J. (2011). Higher Eduaction for Sustainable Development: Students’ Perspectives on an Innovative Approach to Educational Change. Journal of Social Science, (18), 16–26. Mayring, P. (2010). Qualitative Inhaltsanalyse Grundlagen und Techniken. Weinheim: Beltz. Mochizuki, Y., & Fadeeva, Z. (2010). Competences for Sustainable Development and Sustainability. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 11(4), 391–403. doi:10.1108/14676371011077603 Shephard, K., Harraway, J., Lovelock, B., Skeaff, S., Slooten, L., Strack, M., Jowett, T. (2013). Is the Environmental Literacy of University Students measurable? Environmental Education Research, 1–20. doi:10.1080/13504622.2013.816268 Shephard, K., Mann, S., Smith, N., & Deaker, L. (2009). Benchmarking the Environmental Values and Attitudes of Students in New Zealand’s Post‐compulsory Education. Environmental Education Research, 15(5), 571–587. doi:10.1080/13504620903050523

Author Information

Anna Sundermann (presenting / submitting)

Leuphana University Lüneburg

UNESCO-Chair "Higher Education for Sustainable Development"

Lüneburg

Simon Burandt

Leuphana University Lüneburg, UNESCO Chair "Higher Education for Sustainable Development", Germany

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