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

JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION

卷:172

Article

Perez-Foguet, Agusti^1,2  Lazzarini, Boris^2,3  Gine, Ricard^1,2  Velo, Enrique^2,4  Boni, Alejandra⁵  Sierra, Manuel⁶  Zolezzi, Guido⁷  Trimingham, Rhoda⁸ 

[1] Univ Politecn Cataluna, Sch Civil Engn, Dept Civil & Environm Engn, BarcelonaTech, C Jordi Girona 1-3,Ed,C2, ES-08034 Barcelona, Spain

[2] Univ Politecn Cataluna, BarcelonaTech, Engn Sci & Global Dev ESc&GD, Barcelona, Spain

[3] Univ Politecn Cataluna, BarcelonaTech, Res Inst Sustainabil Sci & Technol, C Jordi Girona 31,Ed TG-S1, ES-08034 Barcelona, Spain

[4] Univ Politecn Cataluna, BarcelonaTech, Sch Ind Engn, Dept Heat Engines, Avda Diagonal 647,Ed H, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain

[5] Univ Politecn Valencia, INGENIO CSIC UPV, Ed 5J,Camino Vera S-N, E-46022 Valencia, Spain

[6] Univ Politecn Madrid, ETSI Telecomunicac, Av Complutense 30, E-28040 Madrid, Spain

[7] Univ Trento, UNESCO Chair Engn Human & Sustainable Dev DICAM, Via Mesiano 77, I-38123 Trento, Italy

[8] Univ Loughborough, Loughborough Design Sch, Loughborough LE11 3TU, Leics, England

关键词: Sustainable human development;    Engineering;    Global dimension;    Continuing professional development;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.06.244

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

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. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free