We will be presenting both a workshop and a paper at the upcoming AASHE conference in Denver, October 10-12!

AASHE is the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.  ISDSI has been involved with AASHE since it was started, and we have attended and presented at previous conferences. The conferences are a great place to meet like-minded people involved in sustainability education, and the sessions, workshops, and speakers are great.

This year we will be doing a workshop on how to create the sorts of  experiential courses focused on sustainability issues that ISDSI is known for.  We realize that not everyone who wants to come on an ISDSI study abroad semester can, and that the lessons we’ve learned here in Thailand can translate back to campus and off-campus courses in the US.

So we’re starting a new initiative — beginning with this conference — to make our approach to education and course design available to other teachers, professors and instructors who are interested in doing more than being in a classroom teaching about sustainability.

Here are the abstracts for the workshop and paper session:

Experiential Learning and Sustainability Education

Universities and colleges have the potential to address sustainability and social justice in unique and powerful ways. However, effective teaching about sustainability and the links between culture (how we live) and ecology (where we live) can be challenging confined to the lecture hall or seminar room. Courses at the International Sustainable Development Studies Institute are a blend of seminars and experiential field-based study, working with communities to teach American students about local cultures and ecosystems.

Workshop:

This hands-on workshop will use case studies from over 10 years of teaching American undergraduate students on study-abroad in Thailand to outline key principles for effective teaching in partnership with local communities. Participants should come prepared to brainstorm together on how to transform their existing courses or develop new ones. From risk management to logistics to effective participatory community meetings, this workshop is designed to give participants concrete goals and ideas for addressing social justice, leadership and sustainability in their courses in the United States and abroad. From primarily campus-based courses to fully field-based courses, the principles of community-based sustainability courses can be transformative and empowering for the students, professors, their campus and local communities as well.

Paper:

This paper will present key lessons learned in over 10 years of teaching American undergraduate students on study-abroad in Thailand, and outline key principles for effective teaching in partnership with local communities.  This type of education is powerfully transformative — empowering local communities, building social capacity, and teaching students practical skills of leadership and collaboration.

Our web page supporting the conference is here.

Hope to see you in Denver!