Assessment - Words of Wisdom
Supporting collaboration and active participation in sustainability debates
SDT306 is a level 3 interdisciplinary module which focuses on how to equip students with skills to participate in sustainability debates and champion responses to sustainability challenges. Half of the module's assessment marks are linked to project work that addresses biodiversity, climate change and food issues. The project runs in parallel to the module content and is split into mini-project, group project, and individual project elements.
For the group project students work together to create a set of slides which answer a research question about either Ecosystem Services (ES) or Sustainable Diets (SD). Students choose which topic to pursue and work with between five and ten peers. Each group member approaches the question from a different natural- or social-science perspective, e.g. intergenerational equity, natural heritage, sustainability, ethics, in order to consider different perspectives.
Student groups have autonomy over how they collaborate and can work together online synchronously or asynchronously over approximately eight weeks of study time. Although a challenging task, most students report finding it rewarding and recognise the usefulness of developing collaboration and time management skills.
Author: The Open University's Responsible Futures Audit 2024
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) addressed
- SDG 2 Zero Hunger and SDG 15 Life on Land and SDG 13 Climate Action - topic work in groups to explore issues of biodiversity, climate change and food production issues
- SDG 4 Quality Education by focussing on inclusion and equity
- SDG 17 Partnerships for the Goals - interdisciplinary and collaborative project work
Inner Development Goals (IDGs) addressed
- Thinking - Encompasses critical thinking and complexity awareness
- Collaborating - Focuses on communication, co-creation and building trust