International Higher Education Teacher Award ^2024/25

The Sustainability Challenge (SC) is a two-semester inter-university course involving students from a variety of disciplines. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) accompany the learners as an overarching theme throughout the course. Students participate in one of two tracks: the Service Learning Track, where students work in transdisciplinary teams on socio-ecological questions posed by practice partners, such as private enterprises, ministries or nonprofit organizations. The Start-up Track supports students by developing and implementing their own start-up ideas. Teachers form six different universities and various theoretical backgrounds discuss sustainability concepts from multiple perspectives (economics, sociology, urban planning, architecture, arts, system sciences, climate science). Combined with the practical projects students have the opportunity to experience different learning environments and questions of sustainability situated in various contexts. This empowers learners to critically question existing structures and realities. Due to the close connection to social reality, the theoretically acquired knowledge can be applied in practice and own points of view can be developed. Problem solving and design skills are specifically promoted and enable students to develop key competences to face complex challenges of the future. Students are required to show initiative and interdisciplinary as well as critical thinking. During the whole course, students are supported by a dense support system, which consists of teachers who act both as academic project facilitators and as instructors in teaching blocks, start-up coaches who provide students with the necessary tools for sustainable entrepreneurship, practitioners who share their professional expertise and experiences, and the SC organizational team. The Sustainability Challenge (SC) learning environment allows for a continuous learning process and supports students in becoming change agents. Regular reflection on the acquired theoretical knowledge as well as the experiences from the implementation practice makes the continuous learning process visible and internalizes what has been learned. Working in interdisciplinary teams is a core element of the course. It requires a high degree of independence and promotes both organizational and communication skills.

Methodology

The Sustainability Challenge is a two-semester course, focusing on the SDGs that involves teachers from different universities and allows students from all disciplines to take part in either the Service Learning or Start-up Track. There are elements that concern all participating students as well as track-specific elements. Please also see the overview graph for more detailed information. The learning environment includes learning with and from each other as a central element and is facilitated by a variety of stakeholders: teachers, external partners and organizational staff. In order to create a common approach, a multi-stakeholder workshop before the start of the SC provides space for exchange and coordination among the teachers of the participating universities as well as practice partners and the organizing team. The SC officially starts with the Kick Off event in October, where all stakeholders come together. The first semester serves to dive into sustainability concepts and get a closer examination of the SDGs. Therefore, interdisciplinary teaching units help students to get a better understanding of the complex issues and expand their perspective on global challenges. At the same time, the service learning as well as the start-up teams work on defining a concept for their projects, which they present at the Stop Over event in January. The second semester starts with the Reunion in March, where project milestones are defined and team spirit is strengthened. This semester focusses on the implementation of the projects and start-ups. The Touch Down event in June is the official end of the SC: teams present their learning processes and results and celebrate their shared time. Service Learning Track: The central element of the service learning method is collaboration with the community and the implementation of specific projects. Therefore each year before the SC starts, suitable external project partners need to be found. This process already starts in spring/summer. The goal is to find questions posed by society or business reality, which can be elaborated during the SC by a transdisciplinary team: 6-7 interdisciplinary students, an external partner and a teacher. Practice partners face sustainability challenges in their work reality, which serve as starting point to draft a project question before the SC starts. This allows the service learning teams to work on implementable and relevant challenges from social or entrepreneurial practice while giving the team enough design scope to develop innovative solutions. At the beginning of the first semester students are introduced to the method of service learning. Regular coaching sessions with teachers as well as planning meetings with practice partners accompany the project roll out. Start-up Track: Experienced start-up coaches support student start-up ideas focusing on the SDGs and accompany them to create a business plan within the framework of responsible entrepreneurial action. Co-creation sessions, scheduled in regular intervals, provide a fruitful environment to move from a vague idea to a business concept, to find each other as an interdisciplinary team, to define roles, to evaluate objectives in the context of sustainability and to plan the steps towards implementation. Start-up coaches give input on important aspects during this process and in regular coaching sessions individual milestones are addressed. Key Elements (both tracks) • Solutions to global problems require interdisciplinary approaches, which is why team teaching is used as a method for conveying content in blocked course units. This enables students to follow an exchange of knowledge among different disciplines and to reflect on their own perspective. • Ongoing coaching sessions with supervising teachers also provide academic support for learners in their project work. • Collaboration in interdisciplinary student teams creates space for "peer-to-peer learning". • The learning setting provides students with the framework to become change agents in a mixture of theoretical inputs (course blocks) and immediate implementation in the practical projects. Interdisciplinary teamwork in a real-life setting promotes innovation and creativity and aims at action competence. • A mix of formal, semi-formal and informal learning settings allows students to test and expand their own theoretical as well as practical knowledge, to learn from the experiences and expertise of others (students, teachers, practitioners), and to solve problems in a mix of independent elaboration and constructive collaboration. • Students write protocols and progress reports documenting their progress and learning process. • Reflection papers and meetings at the end of each semester encourage the students to reflect on their own learning process and internalize their experiences. • Joint events (Kick Off, Stop Over, Reunion, Touch Down) strengthen the cohesion of the cohort. • Both tracks allow for a continuous engagement with global sustainability problems and help students to use their potential and knowledge to work as a young generation towards a better world for tomorrow.

Tools, equipment, technology used

Student’s application process: We use a customized application platform to handle the whole application process. Students are required to give information about their studies, write a motivational letter and upload a CV. The backend allows us to view, evaluate and rank the applications as well as communicate with the students regarding their application status. Accepted Service Learning Track students are requested to view the project descriptions and rank the projects according to their interest. An algorithm-supported tool helps us to assign project teams, considering these preferences as well as team composition regarding interdisciplinary aspects. Online platform: For the organization of work, a common online platform is used to exchange learning materials (literature, questions, submissions), to organize communication (discussion forums) and to ensure contact between students and tutors. Project teams often use additional communication platforms or tools in their teamwork. Online-teaching & collaboration: to ensure interactivity and productive collaboration in online settings, we use a variety of tools. E.g. Miro, Padlet or Asana. Service Learning Projects and Start-ups have very different thematic focus within the framework of sustainability, therefore the students use a broad variety of tools to realize their projects. E.g. myclimate to calculate the carbon footprint or Canva to design postcards for a transcultural climate-communication competition.

Outcomes and outputs, main results

The Sustainability Challenge, currently in its 12th year of running, already brought together teachers from 6 universities, 917 students and 92 partners working on 153 projects and start-ups focusing on the SDGs. The learning environment allows for a continuous learning process and supports students in becoming change agents. The SDGs accompany the learners as an overarching theme throughout the course. As a result, theoretical knowledge on the course topic is taught from different perspectives (economics, sociology, spacial planning, arts, system science, climate science) and can be experienced and situated by students in different contexts. This empowers learners to critically question existing structures and realities. Due to the close connection to social reality, the theoretically acquired knowledge can be applied in practice and own points of view can be developed. Problem solving and design skills are specifically promoted and enable students to develop key competences to face complex challenges of the future. Regular reflection on the acquired theoretical knowledge as well as the experiences from the implementation practice make the continuous learning process visible. Working in interdisciplinary teams is a core element of the course. It requires a high degree of independence and promotes communication and organizational skills. Service Learning Track: The independent processing of problems from practice sharpens the problem-solving skills of the students, allows them to develop their own ideas and to use their existing knowledge. The supervision by the practice partners as well as by the teaching staff creates a learning environment that motivates students to take action and supports them when necessary, achieving a high learning effect. Through the intensive exchange with practice partners, students gain valuable insights into social and entrepreneurial practice and can build bridges for their professional future. Start-up Track: In this track, students can develop their own start-up from a rough idea to a business plan. They not only learn which steps and considerations pave this way, but are also individually accompanied in this process by the start-up coaches. The open framework allows the students to realize themselves without overlooking the challenges posed by their surroundings.

Lessons learnt

Team teaching can be an enrichment for the students, but it is time-consuming to implement and requires coordination between the teachers with regard to the content and session design. There is potential for improvement in this area, particularly in the context of the SDGs, in order to be able to address the complex interrelationships even more clearly and comprehensibly. Due to the high degree of student initiative and the promotion of critical thinking in the course, teachers are challenged to provide a structured and nourishing framework that supports student’s independence. In this context, teachers should be aware of changing role pictures at universities, to be able to productively work with students. In terms of organizational volumes, it should not be underestimated how demanding the administrative and coordinative tasks are when joining up to ten teachers from six universities in teaching as well as 60-80 students from different institutions together with 8-10 external partners. In the Service Learning Track external partners work together with students on questions posed by the practice partners. However the collaboration and communication is set at eye level, and not only the results but the learning experience are of great importance. Therefore it is crucial to communicate this framework based on partnership openly and beforehand to the practice partners, to manage expectations and ensure a constructive learning environment.

Adaptability and sustainability of the best practice (for other institutions)

A variety of elements are suitable for use in other institutions or courses: Team teaching: The cooperation of teachers from different schools of thought, disciplines or even universities creates valuable spaces for the students (and also the teachers). Integration of external partners as an integral part: The permanent integration of experts from practice makes industry and experiential knowledge accessible to the students on the one hand, and on the other hand it allows science to build bridges to society. Self-organized teamwork: Through the independent organization and implementation of the projects and start-ups, high learning effects can be achieved among the students - on the one hand with regard to responsible action (in our case in the context of the SDGs), on the other hand with consideration of organizational and communication skills. The relevance of the topics for the students as well as the reference to social reality are identified as decisive factors for this. Change of perspective: Through interdisciplinary teaching, but also teamwork among the students, it is actively encouraged to change perspectives, to get to know new ways of thinking and to explore personal knowledge and interests beyond the lecture material.

Promotion of best practice

The Sustainability Challenge targets different groups, ranging from institutions, teachers and students, to practice and cooperation partners, media and the public. The SC Website www.sustainabilitychallenge.at provides information on the course structure, principles and stakeholders involved, gives insights into current and past service learning projects and start-ups and communicates current events. In addition, we communicate activities concerning the SC via Social Media channels: Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin. Students are involved in the communication regarding their projects and learn to talk about their experiences to a wider audience. All teams are required to create short video-clips to explain their concepts and processes, which accessible on YouTube. We send out press releases on a regular basis, to address the media and extend our reach. We promote the SC at given events and participate in networking activities. During the application phase we put a focus on the communication with universities, to reach students but also inform teachers and institutions about the SC. We stimulate and support our practice partners to communicate about the projects and their cooperation with us. The course design of the SC is also promoted on an institutional level, as it won the WU’s Innovative Teaching Award in 2021 and a detailed description of the design is available on the WU’s teaching award website.

Scope and impact

• Course/department level
• Faculty level
• Institutional level
• Cross-institutional level
• National level

The course design creates impact on multiple levels: Teachers from different departments, faculties, universities and federal states work together in shaping the course and contribute their expertise and experiences. The SC offers participation opportunities for students from all disciplines in Vienna and Graz. All stakeholder involved extend their knowledge and experiences, reflect on questions situated in different contexts and acquire key competences for the future. Institutions join in teaching thus strengthening cross-institutional exchange. Collaboration with practice partners such as private enterprises, federal ministries or non-governmental organizations not only allows students and teachers to step outside the university, but also encourages partners to reflect on current practices and evolve towards more sustainable practices.

6.1 Digitalization

• Innovative use of digital administration tools
• Digital skills development and assessment both general and profession-related, embedded in course design, in teaching and assessment

Reasoning: A customized application platform serves to collect and evaluate student’s applications. Based on project preferences, an algorithm-supported tool helps to compose interdisciplinary project teams. Teaching, course organization as well as intra-& inter-team communication and collaboration takes place in different settings (offline, online, hybrid). An online learning platform provides material and serves for basic communication. Project teams use a variety of tools to implement their projects.

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6.2 Internationalization

• Developing students' multicultural awareness
• International projects/research results embedded into course development and T&L

Reasoning: All teaching as well as project activities evolve around the SDGs, which are in their core aware of multicultural issues and integrate a global perspective on sustainability challenges. The SC aims at fostering start-up activities with a global scope and orientation to development cooperation. Interdisciplinary teaching and guided reflection (considering cultural, political, historical, sociological and economic aspects) encourage students to illuminate their projects from multiple perspectives.

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6.3 Inclusion and diversity, universal design

• Other:

  Diversity and inclusion as project themes

Reasoning: When selecting practice partners or start-up ideas and determining the thematic focus of the projects, we consider aspects of diversity and inclusion. For example working together with socio-economic businesses, projects aiming at raising awareness for diversity in business practice or projects focusing on removing barriers for people to engage in SDG activities.

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6.4 Sustainability

• Sustainability goals are addressed in the course(s)
• Special courses reflecting to UN 2030 Sustainability goals, Green Deal - mini-courses, microcredentials
• Social entrepreneurship projects, service-learning in the topic
• Environmental attitude, skill development and assessment either general or profession-related
• Sustainability aspects are considered in all phases of the learning practice - "hidden curriculum"

Reasoning: The SC is Europe’s largest inter-university service learning and start-up course focusing on the SDGs. From course design, to didactics and thematic orientation, the SC integrates sustainability on all levels and phases of the course. The transdisciplinary Service Learning as well as the start-up teams develop key skill sets while working and reflecting on their projects. We encourage students to question their mind-set and to realize their civic responsibility thus becoming change agents.

3.3 Public contact datas

Name	Email address	Website
Christian Rammel	s-challenge@wu.ac.at	http://www.sustainabilitychallenge.at