Learning and teaching
Our strategic approach to education for sustainable development is targeted at both staff and students, and is:
- Focusing on our distinctive learning principles in the University's Global Changemaker Curriculum Framework, as a foundation for embedding learning for sustainable development across degree programmes.
- Fostering staff development and inspiring practice on sustainability learning and teaching through conferences, events, and tailored case studies.
- Exploring staff and student engagement with sustainable development learning across the curriculum and co-curriculum, to evaluate disciplinary, cross-disciplinary, and global campus involvement.
Education for Sustainable Development Case Studies
This collection of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) case studies showcases the breadth of sustainability focused teaching and learning taking place across our five Heriot-Watt global campuses.
Spanning disciplines such as business, engineering and psychology, the case studies exemplify how staff and students through projects, authentic assessments and community partnerships are engaging with applied learning and sustainability challenges.
Case studies aim to provide inspiration, encourage dialogue, and share practical approaches for staff developing or enhancing sustainability teaching practices within the context of the Shaping Futures Framework and Heriot-Watt Strategy 2035. This is a growing resource, and we welcome further Heriot-Watt case study contributions. Please contact the Learning & Teaching Academy (email: ltacademy@hw.ac.uk), if you would like to offer a case study.
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Supporting Our Academic Staff
Intended learning outcomes underpin effective curriculum design and delivery and capture how education for sustainable development is embedded within teaching and assessment and communicated to our students.
From May 2023 to June 2024, the Learning & Teaching Academy has been supporting all academic Schools and programmes across Heriot-Watt University to refresh their learning outcomes through a workshop, ‘Designing Effective Course Learning Outcomes'.
These staff training and support sessions have provided an ideal opportunity to highlight sustainability learning and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, to-date more than 500 staff have participated in these sessions.
