Policy/practice presentation and discussion
Monday October 14, 10-12
Notes by Isak Stoddard

Audur, university of Iceland

Student driven learning – need to define. How to do it within a certain frame

Have a small influence. Scale of influences needs to be defined. What they learn. How they learn?

Many concepts that need definition.What is a working definition of student-driven learning? 3 different suggestions:

  1. Creation, planning, facilitation/implementation/evaluationof the course.
  2. Peer-to-peer learning
  3. Student-activating learning.

Helsinki: PhD students running the courses. CEMUS not so much.

Julia: How is the need recognized?
Gap in knowledge/competencies..

Human Centric Design – Student-centred design. (Nice slide from VElli-matti)..

Policy of university of Iceland (see slide print out.)
  • Research and innovation
  • Teaching and learning
  • Human resources
  • Social and global responsibility

Other policy: Sustainability and environmental policy
Doesn’t have implementation mechanisms in place..

Split between Teaching and learning – took a huge effort to create this. People thought it was the same.

Give students the opportunity to learn interdisciplinary issues. Students be seriously allowed to influence what they learn and how they learn (policy stamped 2012). Not much knowledge among teachers..

Practice driven by individuals but not policy. Need to promote practices!!

Veeli matti, Helsinki University

Policy without plan to implement is a dead policy..

ESD in Chemistry education.

Helsinki ambition: Helping to build a better world. Society. 50 best universities of the world.

ESD: Teaching the future. All teaching is about the past and the future.

Support from Business world for academic endeavors.

Ways of framing Sustainability – example LUMA

Teachers´ role: Building education from ground up.

Iceland Academy of arts

Founded in 1999

Five departments: fine arts, dance, music, design, arhitecture and art educ.
450 students. Diplomas and MA programmes (as of 2012).

3 sites/campus. Hinders communal discourse. Set up a common culture through the building. Codes of ethics. Revise the policy. Reintegrating.

Curiosity, understanding, courage – key values.
Active in society.

Revising the strategic plan – no specific sust. Policy etc.. 2013-2017.

What relates to sust. and student-driven initiatives? Sense of understanding and how it is disseminated.

Packaging of Sustainability.. Do we need to speak about it? Sust. In Iceland has connotations to going back to the land… Self-sufficiency.

Three versions how we understand the concept of sust:
1. self-sufficiency
2. Automatisation
3. UN thing

Quite recent.. adapt definition from UNESCO. Iceland did not take part of the work. In Iceland often connected to Natural Sciences.

Projects/examples:
Design – innovative processes. Working with farmers. Looking for the model of collaboration

Art – a lot of outreach to the surrounding society. Great connection to the grassroots. Full-time staff doing the paper work. Supervisors external. A plus.

Uppsala Univerisity

See: http://actshen.wikispaces.com/Policy+Overview+at+UU+and+SLU