Learning outcomes

At the end of the teaching unit, students will be able to:


  1. Describe the basic scientific knowledge relating to sustainable development and transition;
  2. Explain the cross-cutting issues of sustainable development and transition;
  3. Use common and rigorous vocabulary relating to the issues of sustainable development and transition; 
  4. Integrate multiple and pluralistic knowledge systems and worldviews into their description of sustainable development and transition issues;
  5. Explain the epistemology of their discipline in order to list its foundations and limitations, and explore disciplines other than their own; 
  6. Develop critical thinking, in particular through the reasoned deconstruction of stereotypes and prejudices related to sustainable development and transition issues; 
  7. Critically evaluate one's education in relation to the various issues of sustainable development and transition; 
  8. Assess multiple possible, probable and desirable futures by forging one's own visions of the future in line with the basic principles of foresight thinking;  
  9. Identify and creatively describe the actions needed to navigate towards the imagined futures;  
  10. Communicate critical thinking or scientific descriptions related to sustainable development and transition issues in a visual, oral or textual form.  



In addition to these transdisciplinary skills, students must also acquire a series of essential soft skills in the field of sustainability:


  1. Defend a point of view with arguments during a lecture, seminar or workshop; 
  2. Enrich the subject matter taught by contributing to the course, highlighting their skills and experience, where appropriate on the basis of prior reading;
  3. Gradually acquire confidence and intellectual autonomy by focusing on argumentation and action rather than restitution; 
  4. Learn to work and think in an interdisciplinary group;
  5. Evaluate one's standards, practices and values in light of various teachings from an ecological and social transition perspective;
  6. Demonstrate autonomy in implementing the tools that lead to one's fulfilment. 

Goals

The purpose of the Sustainable Development and Transition Education Days is to introduce students to forward thinking in an interdisciplinary context.  


To this end, the course offers students an educational programme with four objectives:  


  1. Learning: acquire a common foundation (basic scientific and semantic knowledge) on the challenges of sustainable development and transition;
  2. Thinking: develop critical thinking that is open (trans- and interdisciplinary), pluralistic (open to other worldviews) and systemic (systems theory and interdependencies);
  3. Imagining: develop a creative and reasoned approach to imagining other desirable and sustainable futures;
  4. Acting: define and plan actions that open up desirable and sustainable futures, in particular through the Uni for Change application. 

Content

  • Lectures  
  • Seminars and debates  
  • Interactive workshops  


For further information, please consult the course's WebCampus page.  

Teaching methods

The course combines lectures, seminars, debates and interactive workshops based, where appropriate, on resources that students are asked to familiarise themselves with beforehand. The course's WebCampus page is regularly updated and used as the main source of information, alongside the ‘Uni for Change’ application, which is used as an information and action tool within the teaching unit. 


The course adopts an original pedagogical approach, inspired by transformative education focused on the development of cognitive, socio-emotional and behavioural skills (the “head-heart-hands” approach).  


In the second term, students are grouped into interdisciplinary teams based on their choice of deliverable(s).  

Assessment method

Assessment is ongoing, based on four types of deliverables, each linked to an objective of the student's educational pathway (learning - thinking - imaginating - acting).


For further information, please consult the course's WebCampus page.  


Sources, references and any support material

Please consult the course's WebCampus page. 

Language of instruction

French