Promoting sustainable human development in engineering: Assessment of online courses within continuing professional development strategies

Autor: Agustí Pérez-Foguet, Alejandra Boni, Rhoda Trimingham, Manuel Sierra, Guido Zolezzi, Enrique Velo, Richard Giné, Boris Lazzarini
Přispěvatelé: Ayuntamiento de Barcelona, European Commission, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament d'Enginyeria Civil i Ambiental, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Institut Universitari de Recerca en Ciència i Tecnologies de la Sostenibilitat, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament de Màquines i Motors Tèrmics, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. EScGD - Engineering Sciences and Global Development
Rok vydání: 2018
Předmět:
Engineering
Knowledge management
Higher education
Strategy and Management
Continuing professional development
010501 environmental sciences
01 natural sciences
Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
Ensenyament i aprenentatge::Ensenyament universitari [Àrees temàtiques de la UPC]
Sustainable development--Study and teaching (Higher)
PROYECTOS DE INGENIERIA
Curriculum
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
General Environmental Science
Desenvolupament humà i sostenible [Àrees temàtiques de la UPC]
Sustainable development
Telecomunicaciones
Descriptive statistics
Renewable Energy
Sustainability and the Environment
business.industry
4. Education
05 social sciences
Professional development
050301 education
Human development (humanity)
Global dimension
Engineering education
Sustainable human development
Sustainability
Desenvolupament sostenible -- Ensenyament universitari
Electrónica
Engineering ethics
business
0503 education
Zdroj: Digital.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
instname
Journal of Cleaner Production, ISSN 0959-6526, 2017-06, Vol. 172
UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia
Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
Archivo Digital UPM
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
ISSN: 0959-6526
DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.06.244
Popis: et al.
Higher Education Institutions play a critical role in societies transition towards sustainable development, educating future professionals and decision makers. In the last few decades, a number of technical universities have devoted major efforts to integrating sustainable development into engineering curricula. There is still, however, an increasing need to further transform learning and training environments and build capacity of educators and trainers on sustainable development issues. Against this background, this paper assesses the role of online training courses, within continuing professional development strategies, in promoting sustainable human development in engineering degrees. It was built upon the implementation of a European initiative, the Global Dimension in Engineering Education, promoted by a transdisciplinary consortium of technical universities and non-governmental organisations. In terms of method, this study analyses two sets of quantitative and qualitative indicators to assess i) the perceived quality/relevance of the training proposals, and ii) the learning acquisition of participants. Quantitative indicators were complemented by a descriptive analysis of findings from a semi-structured survey. The results provide evidence that online learning can be an effective approach for continuing professional development of academics. The findings also suggest that participants perceived online courses’ contents and curricula, developed jointly by academics and practitioners of non-governmental organisations, as relevant and useful for integrating sustainability principles in teaching activities. To conclude, authors recommend the leaders of higher educational institutions to explore the integration of online courses addressed to faculty into university policy and strategies, as a way to promote professional development and the engagement of academics on sustainable development.
The research was conducted in the framework of the European initiative Global Dimension in Engineering Education financed by: - European Commission, Non-State Actors and Local Authorities in Development, Raising public awareness of development issues and promoting development education in the European Union Reference: EuropeAid/131141/C/ACT/MULTI, Number of proposal: DCI-NSAED/2012/280-929. - Barcelona City Council, Program: Barcelona Solidaria 2013. Grant number: 13ED0046.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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