praxiSDG activates knowledge, skills and intuition of participants in a target-oriented way of committing themselves to efforts for sustainability of institutions or corporations in the non-profit/civil-society sector (community-based learning). Acting as change agents within their preferred partner organization, participants will design individual projects in a collaborative way, including a precisely formulated aim for self-determined sustainability-related action (service learning).
Cross-border/international
Germany
Germany
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Saxony: Dresden, Chemnitz, Leipzig
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
As an individual in partnership with other persons
First name: Martin Last name: Gerner Gender: Male Nationality: Germany Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Technische Universität Dresden, Centre for Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching (ZiLL), 01062 Dresden Town: Dresden Postal code: 01062 Country: Germany Direct Tel:+49 351 46342308 E-mail:martin.gerner@tu-dresden.de
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Yes
European Commission Joint Research Centre New European Bauhaus
praxiSDG activates knowledge, skills and intuition of participants in a target-oriented way of committing themselves to efforts for sustainability of institutions or corporations in the non-profit/civil-society sector (community-based learning). In doing so, participants learn to act as change agents in programme design, strategy or operative activities within their preferred partner organization (service learning). Based on the respective needs of the partner organizations, participants will design their individual projects in a collaborative way, including a precisely formulated aim for self-determined, sustainability-related action. This enables participants not only to learn about the significance of volunteerism, but also to evaluate and reflect its opportunities and risks vis-à-vis their individual contexts.
praxiSDG is a service learning that intends to attract participants with a strong sustainability agenda across disciplines and study semesters and engages participants in a proactive, self-determined and exploratory way with partner-organization projects in a predefined scope. It provides innovative term-based e-learning/blended-learning opportunities, including four classroom-learning sessions and optional e-tutoring/consulta¬tion, is promoted by a teaching tandem to support interdisciplinary learning, and concludes with credit points and an optional certificate. Learning objectives of praxiSDG are:
- providing theoretical-conceptual background in the areas of volunteerism/civic engagement (e. g. urban commons, co-creation), common public interest, service learning and sustainability-related terminology (e. g. SDGs),
- enabling insights into different opportunities for sustainability-oriented commitment in institutionally structured, non-profit fields of activity,
- facilitating a specifically contextualized commitment determined by the need of the partner organization,
- practicing project-based, interdisciplinary team work with heterogeneous needs
service learning
sustainability
SDG
third mission
transformation
The award-winning praxiSDG is a one-semester – usually three to four months – service-learning course open to students of all disciplines and study semesters. What makes praxiSDG a unique learning experience? Willingness to actively engage in an innovative study format and interest in becoming part of a self-effective sustainability challenge are the few prerequisites for participation. Thanks to a blended-learning set-up consisting of both in-person and online sessions, it is open to students of several universities in one region. The module is roughly divided into three phases: (1) the kick-off phase, closely accompanied and facilitated by the teaching tandem, (2) the project phase, which is supported by individually-tailored consultation sessions and e-tutoring, and (3) the reflection phase, in which the results of the project phase are presented and reflected in an academically sound framework, again with close methodological support of the teaching tandem.
praxiSDG provides theoretical-conceptual background in the areas of volunteerism and civic engagement, e. g. rural-urban commons, co-creation, common public interest, service learning and sustainability-related terminology, e. g. SDGs; enables insights into different opportunities for sustainability-oriented commitment in institutionally structured, non-profit fields of activity; and facilitates a specifically contextualized commitment determined by the need of the partner organization. Furthermore, it fosters analysing individual, discipline-specific and professional strategies of engagement; reflecting of experiences in a structured and systematically-guided way; preparing professional presentations of one’s genuine service-learning experiences; and practicing project-based, interdisciplinary team work with heterogeneous needs and prerequisites.
praxiSDG embraces aesthetics as quality of experience and style beyond functionality in three different ways: (1) culture of failure, (2) culture of reflection and (3) culture of sustainability.
(1) Experiences of failure are typically individualised and discretely privatised. Stories of failure, however, are powerful and intriguing once made visible as part of the design process itself. Trial-and-error-loops are considered essential drivers for praxiSDG in the design process, including challenges and pitfall conditions, such as stakeholder motivation, curricular embedding or learning habits.
(2) praxiSDG is primarily about reflecting experiences in a structured and systematically guided way. As progressively-evolving learning assignment, it merges formative design elements of self-conducted reflection and research with professional evolution through advanced, on-the-job training of the facilitating team. Lessons learnt of failure are to be reflected upon and reframed for continuing advancements. Adaptive learning induced and promoted by trial and error or failure and success, respectively, are nudging elements of praxiSDG.
(3) The didactic challenge tackled by praxiSDG is to enact sustainability by means of civic engagement through a coherent, constructively aligned methodological approach. As to participants liaising the seventeen Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) with an institutionalized learning process has to be more than just some kind of academic nexus with service learning. Thus, the SDGs provide guidance for practical experiences and didactic reflection regarding learners’ transform|ability in third-mission contexts. praxiSDG fosters vibrant and knowledgeable interdependencies through sustainability-related partnerships – both established and emerging – with SDG-related associations, non-profit organizations, municipalities, higher-education institutions and schools, inter alia.
Relevance for SDG-driven service learning is fuelled by the global paradigm transforming from within. That implies universities being increasingly regarded as engines of transformational sustainability toward delivering the sustainable development goals across cultures. Assuming the gently evolving insight within higher-education institutions to transform their students into global citizens, calls for the mandate of establishing a transformational sustainability nexus, based upon the globally-relevant principles of education for sustainable development (ESD). Predominantly acknowledging making meaning as a learning process, this ESD-mandate might be honoured through SDG-related service learning as didactic-curricular approach for from-within-learning assignment, provided the multiple themes, meanings and characteristics. praxiSDG fosters inclusion, from valuing diversity and equality for all, to securing accessibility and affordability. The course design encourages diversity in different aspects:
(1) intercultural: Working teams are organized across cultures and nations. praxiSDG is international and English-speaking.
(2) interdisciplinary: praxiSDG provides a learning experience to address sustainability-related issues/topics in a cross-cutting, multi-diciplinary, trans-disciplinary or inter-disciplinary way. It is accessible for students from different study backgrounds.
(3) engaging: Designed as service-learning course, praxiSDG fosters mutual engagement between science/academia and civil society. The learning assignment lives up to third mission of organizations.
(4) content-driven: Topics chosen for praxiSDG projects usually comprise a strong notion for matters of inclusion. Depending on the SDG opted for, the nexus is often established subconsciously, almost unintentional, taking the example of local foodbanks, treasure hunts, tiny houses for homeless people etc.
praxiSDG activates knowledge, skills and intuition of participants in a target-oriented way of committing themselves to efforts for sustainability of institutions or corporations in the non-profit/civil-society sector (community-based learning). In doing so, participants learn to act as change agents in programme design, strategy or operative activities within their preferred partner organization (service learning). Thus, praxiSDG generates added value through inducing positive affects on both...
(a) citizens: Relevance for SDG-driven service learning is fuelled by the paradigm transforming from within. That implies universities being increasingly regarded as engines of transformational sustainability toward delivering the sustainable development goals. Assuming the gently evolving insight within higher-education institutions to transform their students into global citizens calls for the mandate of establishing a transformational sustainability nexus, based upon the principles of education for sustainable development (ESD). praxiSDG achieves to “engage in a learning process where comprehension is led by transformative experiences rather than the consumption of pre-packaged knowledge” (Matteucci, X., & Aubke, F. (2018). Experience care: Efficacy of service-learning in fostering perspective transformation in tourism education. Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism, 18(1), 8–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/15313220.2017.1403800, p. 3); and
(b) civil society: praxiSDG provides theoretical-conceptual background in the areas of volunteerism and civic engagement, e. g. rural-urban commons, co-creation, common public interest, service learning and sustainability-related terminology, e. g. SDGs; enables insights into different opportunities for sustainability-oriented commitment in institutionally structured, non-profit fields of activity; and facilitates a specifically contextualized commitment determined by the need of the partner organization.
The maturing process of this novel, sustainability-oriented service-learning assignment originates from readiness and adaptability of the participants, and from expertise and intuition shared by the authoring scholars, including positively reframed limitations imposed by the institutional context conditions. Insights specifically associated with praxiSDG comprise several institutional touchpoints, each differing in scope, size, region, socio-cultural context or degree of curricular embedding, inter alia. Related snapshots display how processes of innovation are nudged and shaped by the person’s creativity throughout and as a result of institutional contexts. For the praxiSDG lecturing tandem, for instance, this meant the customized pitch of switching to English as to paying regard to international audience and stakeholders.
Transferring local knowledge from, to and beyond communities is essential for successful knowledge-creating organisations, including institutions of higher education, such as colleges or universities. Tapping the potential of contextualized and community-based expertise is at the core of organizational knowledge creation. praxiSDG fosters vibrant and knowledgeable interdependencies through sustainability-related partnerships – both established and emerging – with SDG-related associations, non-profit organizations, municipalities, higher-education institutions and schools, inter alia.
praxiSDG as a service learning intends to attract participants with a strong sustainability agenda across disciplines and study semesters and engages participants in a proactive, self-determined and exploratory way with partner-organization projects in a predefined scope. It provides innovative term-based e-learning/blended-learning opportunities, including four classroom-learning sessions and optional e-tutoring/consultation, is promoted by a teaching tandem to support interdisciplinary learning, and concludes with credit points and an optional certificate.
The relevance of external, institutional praxiSDG stakeholders impacting the design process is particularly high at its beginning and towards its (continuing) end. Taking into consideration the internal significance of institutions for the praxiSDG design process, in addition, most value is added when both relevance and significance are reasonably provided. This positive correlation applies to few institutional contexts only. Considering and analysing the role of one’s internal and external stakeholders in advance may improve the design process of a learning assignment since the impact is enhanced. Following an intuition for those institutional and agenda-driven contexts may foster one’s self-efficacy and purpose-orientation through transformational framework conditions. Making use of one’s experiences gained and challenged with during the conceptual planning may improve the format design of praxiSDG as learning assignment.
The service-learning format would not be in place today if the design process had not started at the opposite end. Instead of serving the demand-driven institutional mimic to embrace the SDGs through contributing to teaching capacities, an option was placed, decoupled from any institutional requirements (necessities and duties), any perspectives of realization and implementation, let alone any expectations of success.
Sustainability-related contexts might be particularly qualified for creative design-thinking, since the sustainability-related bias is considered highly intuitive in terms of being associated with a specific set of values for change agents. Thereby, they are qualified for contributing to transformative competencies and corresponding sustainability-exploring methods of learning.
Since the factual influence of institutional context conditions may differ considerably, it makes sense to conduct a confidential baseline study addressing their internal significance for the praxiSDG design process and their relevance for external praxiSDG stakeholders.
SDGs provide the compass for enabling service design for transformability in experiential learning environments. By selecting a particular SDG, participants develop knowledge about a particular aspect of sustainability and thus become agents of transformation and change. In this case, service learning is the value-adding element of format design. Service learning can be defined as “form of experiential education in which students engage in activities that address human and community needs together with structured opportunities intentionally designed to promote student learning and development (through) reflection and reciprocity (as) key concepts of service learning” (Howe, C. W. (2014). Service-Learning = Community-University Partnership(s). In A. C. Michalos (Ed.), Encyclopedia of quality of life and well-being research (pp. 1116–1119). New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_103783, p. 1117). Service learning may foster transformational competencies; learning based on civic engagement may serve as driver of practical options for sustainability.
SDGs provide the compass for enabling service design for transformability in experiential learning environments. By selecting a particular SDG, participants develop knowledge about a particular aspect of sustainability and thus become agents of transformation and change. In this case, service learning is the value-adding element of format design. Service learning can be defined as “form of experiential education in which students engage in activities that address human and community needs together with structured opportunities intentionally designed to promote student learning and development (through) reflection and reciprocity (as) key concepts of service learning” (Howe, C. W. (2014). Service-Learning = Community-University Partnership(s). In A. C. Michalos (Ed.), Encyclopedia of quality of life and well-being research (pp. 1116–1119). New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_103783, p. 1117). Service learning may foster transformational competencies; learning based on civic engagement may serve as driver of practical options for sustainability.
In the case of praxiSDG, exploring how transformational service learning for sustainability succeeds is at the core of the corresponding research based on qualitative, theoretically grounded portfolio analysis and principles of teaching and learning (SoTL). Thus, impact analysis is purposefully considered through adopting an inquiry-focused, context-grounded, methodologically-sound, partnership-involving and publishing-affiliated approach of research. The results of this unfolding research are intended to be used in an iterative process for constantly updating and developing praxiSDG, combined with insights for successful transformational service learning overall.
Democratic practices of negotiating prerequisites for transformative change are trained through conceptual varieties of campus-community partnerships, including engaged scholarship, public scholarship, service learning, town-gown relations, university-community engagement, civic engagement and university-community partnerships. They share the principal notion of representing “collaborations between institutions of higher education and the communities in which they function or with whom they relate on a local, regional, or global level. Such partnerships have the goal of being mutually beneficial and often focus on the sharing of resources and knowledge white addressing public challenges” (Howe, C. W. (2014). Service-Learning = Community-University Partnership(s). In A. C. Michalos (Ed.), Encyclopedia of quality of life and well-being research (pp. 1116–1119). New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_103783, p. 1116). The project questions have to comply with the four dimensions of being manageable, sustainability-driven, specific, and globally-relevant. Under the sustainability dimension, one particular SDG – and if applicable, a corresponding sub-goal/target – is selected and serves as a thematic focus during the project phase. In a nutshell, team topics and individual project questions become locally applicable through the partner organization.
praxiSDG provides an advanced scope of progress; it has been established for roughly five years at different higher-education institutions in Germany. praxiSDG courses are provided in summer and winter terms on a regular basis at Technische Universität Dresden, including academic and civil-society cooperation across the Free State of Saxony, Germany, and beyond. Assisted by principles of teaching and learning (SoTL) praxiSDG is constantly evaluated, refined and developed further (Gerner, M. (2022). praxiSDG: Adopting the banana principle for designing sustainability in action. In N. Vöing, S. Reisas, & M. Arnold (Eds.), Forschung und Innovation in der Hochschulbildung: Vol. 16. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning – Eine forschungsgeleitete Fundierung und Weiterentwicklung hochschul(fach)didaktischen Handelns (pp. 101–114). Köln).
The NEB award is intended to (a) enhance visibility of praxiSDG, (b) promote scale-up exchange options across Europe, and (c) foster transformational research in sustainability-driven third-mission contexts.
praxiSDG proactively contributes to the European competence framework on sustainability through addressing the following competencies; they are matter of an envisaged SoTL-based research agenda on experiential-transformational patterns towards sustainability:
a) Embodying sustainability values: valuing sustainability + promoting nature
b) Embracing complexity in sustainability: critical thinking + problem framing
c) Acting for sustainability: collective action + individual initiative
d) Envisioning sustainable futures: futures literacy + adaptability + exploratory thinking
praxiSDG involves a community of practice to connect schools, researchers, public authorities and other bodies using the relevant competencies’ frameworks.
