Green Gown Awards 2023
We were highly commended for our work at this years Green Gown Awards.
What the Judges Thought: The team brought creativity, innovation, and collaboration to bear in creating a fantastic example of joined-up and integrated working at the OU developing engaging and effective learning materials. The judges really loved its potential for transferability. The judges really liked that you identified the need for creativity within the Open University’s module design process. The research undertaken to pro-actively support how sustainability can be designed into courses, taking a non-tokenistic and meaningful approach. A great example of how listening to the student voice and inviting feedback can improve learning materials by creating relevant infographics, videos, and workshops to improve the learner’s experience.
Case studies
The case studies showcase how some of the resources in this list were used to support the design process at the OU
Case Study 1 – using our resources
Case Study 2 – using our resources
Case Study 3 – using our resources
Sustainability skills cards
These sets of cards support actionable ways to connect with sustainability. They also take the language used by UNESCO and connect it with existing OU frameworks to support the development of learning outcomes and/or activity design.
Skills Cards – ways of thinking
Skills Cards – ways of practicing
Skills Cards – ways of being
A twelve minute slidecast has been created to help support colleagues to consider how the skills cards may support the creation of learning outcomes.
1 Sustainability Principles in Module Design To raise awareness that support is available for discussions about embedding sustainability.
2 Sustainability Resources in HE Grouped by theme for ease of navigation.
3 Where to begin To narrow the focus of where to begin your thinking about how to connect with sustainability in the design process.
4a Key competencies – ways of thinking
4b Key competencies – ways of practicing
4c Key competencies – ways of being
5 Student Voice To encourage the use of student voice in the co-design of learning experiences.
6 Existing resources on OpenLearn Spotlights the Sustainability Hub on OpenLearn.
7 Connecting with the role of HE in sustainability Signposting to the framework shared by QAA and Advance HE about embedding sustainability within the student journey.
Crib sheet guidance for all seven prompt resources to help colleagues connect with and use them: Crib sheets for resources 1-7
Supporting sustainability in a distance learning curriculum – Poster resource Presented at the 2023 EDEN conference, this provides an overview of the seven prompt resources that help prompt thinking about sustainability. It also contains a link to a video about the purpose of the poster.
Embedding sustainability skills guidance Designed to help you engage with sustainability skills in order to systematically reflect upon how to meaningfully embed skills for a sustainable future into the learning journey that students undertake in your context.