Best practices in case study use for sustainability and sustainable development education
Friday, October 11th 9:00am – 11am
- Meghan Wagner, University of Michigan. Meghan Wagner is the project manager for Michigan Sustainability Cases and holds a PhD in earth and environmental sciences. In her role as project manager, she has facilitated a number of workshops on case production and teaching, including at the 2018 Sustainability and Development Conference. Meghan has extensive experience in the education sector, ranging from primary classrooms in South Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer, to GSI positions as a graduate student at the University of Michigan, to college classrooms as a lecturer at Washtenaw Community College.
- Kit Poon, Tsinghua University. Kit Poon is a professor in the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University and is also the former Undersecretary for the Environment for the government of Hong Kong. Her research interests are in sustainable development, and she teaches a course on sustainable development that uses several case studies. Kit is currently co-producing a case study on water management with Michigan Sustainability Cases.
**Please note that this workshop is intended for those already using case studies and for those interested in using case studies.**
- Share ideas and knowledge among participants about current practices, challenges, and questions related to case-based teaching for sustainability and sustainable development.
- Using small group work, propose solutions to challenges faced by participants in case-based teaching.
- Create new peer-to-peer connections among participants that will form the basis for an online community of practice that can continue to provide support and innovate after the workshop concludes.
Introduction and welcome (10-15 mins.)
Small group discussion and report out (25 mins.)
· How are participants currently using cases in their classrooms? (Each participant has 2-3 minutes to describe their current practices or interest in using cases.)
· Is there anything they would like to do but have not had the opportunity or do not know how to do?
Large group discussion (30 mins.)
· What is working well in participants’ current practice? (In other words, what do participants see as best practices?)
· What are the challenges for case-based teaching that participants have encountered?
· What is still needed in case-based teaching to make it more effective and successful for sustainability and sustainable development education?
Break (10 mins.)
Breakout session #1 (20 mins.)
· Participants form new groups in order to meet new people
· Small group work to brainstorm solutions to identified top challenges
Breakout session #2 (20 mins.)
· Small group work to create an action plan on next steps, including how to create an online community of practice.
· The home for the online community could be Michigan Sustainability Cases’ Gala platform or another online tool.
- New ideas for how to use case studies in classrooms
- Solutions for common challenges in case-based learning, specifically those encountered in sustainability and sustainable development education
- A peer network that will continue to innovate and grow as an online community of practice following the workshop
- Advance the practice of case-based learning in sustainability and sustainable development education by sharing knowledge and solutions among peers
- Develop a strong support network for instructors who are at the forefront of innovation in sustainability and sustainable development education