RCE Greater Atlanta - 2023

Community of Practice on Teaching with the SDGs
Basic Information
Title of project : 
Community of Practice on Teaching with the SDGs
Submitting RCE: 
RCE Greater Atlanta
Contributing organization(s) : 
Georgia Institute of Technology
Georgia State University
Kennesaw State University
University of Georgia
Focal point(s) and affiliation(s)
Name: 
Dr Rebecca Watts Hull
Organizational Affiliation: 
Assistant Director, Faculty Development for Sustainability Education Initiatives, Georgia Institute of Technology
E-mail: 
rwattshull@gatech.edu
Format of project: 
Bi-semester seminar sessions, PowerPoint presentations
Language of project: 
English
Date of submission:
Wednesday, August 2, 2023
Web link: 
https://rcega.org/higher-education-learning-community-helc-action-group
Additional resources: 
https://serve-learn-sustain.gatech.edu/instructor-created-resources-sdg-teaching
Does this project link to any education and/or sustainable development policy or policies?: 
Yes
City of Atlanta - Clean Energy Plan
At what level is the policy operating?: 
Local
Georgia Institute of Technology - Sustainability Next
At what level is the policy operating?: 
Local
Geographical & Education Information
Region: 
Americas
Country: 
United States
Location(s): 
Greater Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Address of focal point institution for project: 
Georgia Institute of Technology, North Ave, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA
Ecosystem(s):
Urban/Peri-urban
Target Audience:
Higher, Teacher Ed.
Socioeconomic and environmental characteristics of the area : 
Greater Atlanta is a diverse multicultural metropolitan urban area, with a population of roughly 6 million people.
Description of sustainable development challenge(s) in the area the project addresses: 
Impact of extreme weather events; strategies for legislative, policy, and practical changes in complex urban governance systems; and the inequity of environmental burdens.
Contents
Status: 
Ongoing
Rationale: 
Incorporating the UN SDGs into coursework in higher education fosters critical thinking and helps students make meaningful connections between local issues and global-scale goals. It requires that students make connections between course content and important societal and environmental challenges. It also encourages the students to think deeply about how their professional work intersects with the larger world, because they learn sustainability systems-thinking skills that help them understand the environmental, social, and cultural impact of their professional practice. By using the SDGs as a teaching tool, higher education institutions provide students with the opportunity to understand how their learning can contribute to creating a positive impact in their communities.
Objectives: 
The goal of this Community of Practice is to connect instructors interested in teaching with the UN SDGs. This group is open to any instructors, instructional designers, or faculty development professionals engaged in college teaching in Georgia, with the purpose of sharing resources and ideas about integrating the UN SDGs into course content.
Activities and/or practices employed: 
Following the launch event in May 2022, members of the Community of Practice met twice in Fall 2022 and twice in Spring 2023. Each meeting included a series of presentations followed by break-out and plenary discussions.

Session 1: Online Tools for Integrating the SDGs into Course Curricula
- “Enroads”
- “Dashboards”
- “Virtual Reality”

Session 2: Making Global and Local Connections through the SDGs
- “Incorporating SDG#10 and COIL into a Japanese Upper-Level Course”
- “The Geography of Clothing”
- “Addressing SDGs in service-learning courses in Women’s Studies”

Session 3: Case Studies on Community-Engaged Teaching
- “I Wasn’t Designed for This: Community-Engaged Teaching in a Large Lecture, Foundations of Health Course”
- “Christianity and Sustainability: Creation Care in Congregational Ministry”
- “Community-Engagement in Online Courses…Can We talk?”

Session 4: Strategies to Enhance and Expand Interdisciplinary Collaboration
- “Faculty Learning Communities”
- “Toolkits”
- “Interdisciplinary Collaboration at the Institutional Level”
Size of academic audience: 
75
Results: 
Participants in the Community of Practice gained valuable knowledge through presentations, case studies, and discussions. The materials produced are available through a shared digital repository.
Lessons learned: 
There is a tension between two possible approaches for a Community of Practice within higher education – a bottom-up approach engaging faculty who are involved in the actual task of curriculum design and teaching, and a top-down approach which institutionalizes learning outcomes through curricular policy and faculty assessment rubrics. A successful Community of Practice should focus on one of these approaches not both. Sharing case studies of successful curriculum design is the most useful contribution, but faculty must be supported to produce and contribute these.
Key messages: 
Integrating the SDGs into course curricula is central to the implementation of Education for Sustainable Development. By sharing case studies, best practices, and innovative perspectives, faculty are better positioned to achieve these goals.
Relationship to other RCE activities: 
The “Community of Practice” is a project led by members of the Higher Education Learning Community (HELC), an action group within RCE Greater Atlanta. It evolved out of an earlier HELC project on “Building Effective ESD Teaching within Higher Education through Multi-Institutional and Community Collaborations”.
Funding: 
N/A
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
(https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs) and other themes of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
SDG 4 - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all 
Direct
Theme
Curriculum Development 
Direct
ESD for 2030-Priority Action Areas
Priority Action Area 2 - Transforming learning and training environments 
state: 
Direct
Priority Action Area 3 - Developing capacities of educators and trainers 
state: 
Direct
Update: 
No
I acknowledge the above: 
Yes