Learning Outside the Box

1. Learning Outside the Box
Alison Greig and Julian Priddle
alison.greig@anglia.ac.uk

2. Holistic learning within a modular system
• Challenges
• Addressing these
challenges
• Impact on students
learning
• Case study

3. Working within the existing system
• Recognise the educational benefits of a
modular approach to learning
• Accepted norm

4. Academic challenges of sustainability
learning
Sustainability Learning
Aims to;
Discipline learning
Aims to;
Create rounded oversight Create depth in specifics
A coherent whole Serial detailed understanding
Crosses discipline boundaries Mostly within a discipline
boundary
Focus on interconnections Focus on nodes
Assess learning across modules Assess learning within modules
Constructive alignment at course
level
Constructive alignment at
modular level

5. Administrative challenges of sustainability
learning
Sustainability Learning Discipline learning
Crosses units of administration
e.g. departments
Within units of administration e.g.
departments
Different department rules,
timetables, practice and ethos
Single set of rules etc
Crosses budget centres – accounting
complexity
Single budget centre – accounting
simplicity
Does not fit regulatory/QA
conventions
Set within external regulatory
frameworks

6. If its so challenging then why do it?
“a reductionist approach,
which treats our complex,
interconnected, finite,
ecological-social-
psychological-economic
system as if it were divisible,
simple and infinite has been
unable to staunch our
persistent intractable global
problems” (Meadows 1982: p101)

7. What is holistic learning?
• Interdisciplinary? Multidisciplinary? Transdisciplinary?
• Emphasis on HOW L&T should happen rather than on WHAT should be taught
• Broader than pedagogy – its about more than just ‘what students should know’
• Links to UNESCOs (1996) 4 pillars of learning
• Learning to know
• Learning to do
• Learning to live together
• Learning to be
• And Head, Heart and Hands - Sipos, Battisti and Grimm (2006)

8. HE focus on learning to know
• Basis of our modular systems
• Basis of our QA systems
• Basis of our qualifications
Learning to know is not enough!

9. Sustainability learning = learning for change
• Knowledge Action Gap - cognitive and intellectual understanding of
sustainability is only weakly associated with individuals or society becoming
more sustainable
• Need to include the other three pillars
• Learning to do, Learning to live together, Learning to be
• Takes sustainability learning beyond the cognitive domain, into the affective
sensorimotor and social domains e.g. Dettmer (2006)
• Can be unfamiliar and uncomfortable territory

11. Learn
Experience
Practice
Demonstrate
Learning Journey

12. Student Response (1)
Systems thinking and interdisciplinarity
“I am comfortable with dealing with a wide range of subjects” but also
“Can you tell me which module this session links to?”
“It has felt difficult to truly engage in one subject because of other areas.”
Learning beyond the cognitive paradigm
“Eden residentials have been brilliant & have really added value to the MSc”
“[The MSc has] showed me that work can be aligned with your values, have
purpose and be a further expression of who you are.”
“I really enjoyed the Eden residentials but they were light on content”

13. Student Response (2)
Open mindedness
“To be completely honest, …. I felt very disappointed and frustrated [ with my
work placement ]….
this work placement …exceeded every expectation I had by tenfold.”
Agency
“I love the authority that doing this MSc has given me “
“it has forced me to step outside of my normal realms of comfort, the results of
which have often surprised me."

14. Conclusions
• Holistic learning is an essential pre-requisite for change
• Holistic learning is a challenge for universities and
students
• Universities and students may be ‘habituated’ to the
modular system
• Holistic learning can place universities and students
outside their comfort zone
• Evidence that students remain open-minded and
recognise the benefits

15. References
• Dettmer (2006) New Blooms in Established Fields: Four Domains of
Learning and Doing Roeper Review; Winter 2006; 28, 2; ProQuest
Education Journals pg. 70
• Meadows, D.H. (1982) Whole Earth Models and Systems, The CoEvolution
Quarterly, Summer, 98–108.
• Sipos,Y, Battisti, B and Grimm, K. (2008) Achieving transformative
sustainability learning: engaging head, hands and heart. International
Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education 9:1 , 68-86
• UNESCOs (1996) Learning: The Treasure Within. Report to UNESCO of the
International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century.
UNESCO

16. Thank you for listening!
alison.greig@anglia.ac.uk