Promoting sustainable behaviour

Week 7 :-Promoting sustainable behaviour in ourselves and those over whom we have influence

Reflect on how your learning activity enhances sustainability and question whether your ideas fit within Otago Polytechnic’s aims of Inspiring Capability.

My learning activity (critiquing the EfS course) will reflect on features of the current course content and delivery and, from my own experience and the experience of classmates in this course, seek to make recommendations for improvements.  This is normal practice for all courses but is particularly significant in this course as it exemplifies blended delivery.

Since blended delivery is the new model for Otago Polytechnic courses it is wise to reflect on the efficacy of this modality to ensure we adopt ‘best practice’ that will serve students needs well and make this institutions courses stand out from others.  Evaluation of this course through reflective practice will make it more sustainable in terms of those all important factors student retention and success.  It will also guide blended delivery courses that I will develop in the future and thereby heighten their effectiveness.  Reflective practice is an endeavour that we all need to engage in for every part of our lives since the decisions we make as individuals have a flow on effect to everything and everyone around us.

Individuals need to reflect on their behaviour in terms of the many hats that they wear (for myself these could be:- teacher, student, parent, consumer, friend..and so on) to judge whether or not the decisions that are made in each situation are sustainable.  This same reflective practice is an activity that would be rolled out to the students and included in the courses that I facilitate.  Insights gained on the EfS course would be brought into play and passed on to others.

For example:-

1. Students would be asked to diarise a day of their life to critique the choices and decisions they made over the day wearing “various hats” to see if they were acting in a sustainable manner and to consider whether or not they might be able to make more sustainable choices.
2. Students are asked to do a unit of work that requires them to think about some of the resources that they control or have an impact on such as time, money and the environment. They look at a number of scenarios related to use of these resources, extrapolate on what the outcome will be from continuing this behaviour, and consider changes that might be desirable/possible.  For example- We find ourselves buying things we don’t really need, to be fashionable or feel excited/good /happy for a short time (retail therapy).  These things often just clutter up our lives and may be just a cover up for a more deep seated need that can’t be easily satisfied.
3. Students as consumers….

• Students are asked to categorise a number of items in a list and decide if they are needs or wants
• Students are shown examples of rampant spending from the sustainability blog and then asked to write about what they think they need in their life to make them happy.
•  Students are asked to imagine how life would be if they only focussed on what they needed instead of wanting the latest ‘this and that’ and always wanting more of everything (keeping up with the Jonses).

4. Students are asked to consider an issue that affects them personally and take action to do something about it.  E.g. write to the paper to complain about the removal of seats in public bus shelters.  They could start a petition about this issue and present it to the local city council to try and effect change.
5. Students could explore other issues at a national level that they feel strongly about and find out what different political parties say they will do about this issue e.g. the rise in unemployment.
6. Students could join a community group such as Transition Valley 473 and engage in activities that interested them  or that others might benefit from such as working in a community garden or volunteering their skills to repair bicycles etc.

All of these ideas fit well with Otago Polytechnic’s goal to produce graduates (and employees) that are focussed, forward thinking able to solve problems and conduct their lives in sustainable ways.