Course Overview & Dates

Three ways of participation

You can participate in Higher education didactics for sustainability (HEDS) in three different ways. The most common and most collaborative way is to join a problem based learning (PBL) group where you work with 7-8 colleagues on scenarios for each topic in the course. In the PBL groups there will be a mix of institutional learners (from the organizing universities) and open learners. Each group has a facilitator and a co-facilitator.

As an open learner you have the opportunity to join a PBL group (subject to availability) which you indicate during the course registration.

You are also welcome to follow the course informally and study independently, as an independent learner. If you don’t want to join a PBL group, we still encourage you to connect with others to learn together by participating in the live events of the course.

INSTITUTIONAL LEARNER

The most common form of participation. You study within a facilitated PBL group with other learners (both open and institutional).
An institutional learner is affiliated to one of the organizing institutions (Sweden: Mälardalen University, Linköping University, Mid Sweden University, Karlstad University, Lund University, Norway: Inn.no, etc.) and are enrolled to the course through your institution.

OPEN LEARNER

You are not affiliated to any of the organizing institutions named above. You study within a facilitated PBL group with other learners (both open and institutional). This requires continuous engagement and you should be able to spend approx. 6-8 hours/week for your studies in the course.

INDEPENDENT LEARNER

You are not affiliated to any of the organizing institutions named above and you do not wish to participate in a PBL group. You can follow the course informally, studying topics independently and taking part in common course activities. You are encouraged to create a learning blog, writing reflections on the course as well as joining the live events. You are not eligible for a course certificate.

HEDS course activities in brief

PBL group work, synchronous and asynchronous
Course webinars
Continuous reflection on your own learning

A core activity during the course is collaborative learning in a mixed PBL group with 7-8 learners from different universities and contexts. Groups have their own working space in Canvas and participate in one to two online meetings each week (decided within each group), as well as work in discussion forums and common files in between the meetings. Each group will be guided by a facilitator and a co-facilitator. In addition to PBL group work and the offered common course webinars, you will also reflect on your learning in separate discussion forums.

Awarding certificates

Institutional as well as open learners who study in a PBL group are eligible for a course certificate.

As an open learner the facilitator of your PBL group is responsible for “assessing” your participation at the end of the course in order for you to get the certificate, which is awarded from HEDS.

As an institutional learner the facilitator of your PBL group (which might be from any of the organising institutions) is responsible for the assessment of the PBL part, whilst your course leader(s) for your institutional course will be your contact person and also will “assess” your overall participation (including the reflections) at the end of the course in order for you to get the certificate, which is awarded from your institution.
The course requirements as presented above are general and applicable for open learners and all participating institutions, however each institution might have specified some details – please check with your institution’s course leaders.

Course requirements

If you wish to gain a certificate for the course you must complete the following:

active participation in the PBL group (participation in group work both synchronously and asynchronously, taking responsibility for tasks, creating presentations, giving feedback to colleagues etc.). Your facilitators assess participation. To demonstrate participation, we suggest to make an effort to join your scheduled PBL group meetings; ask questions, share experiences, support others; demonstrate understanding of the literature through dialogue; and contribute to the ‘group creation’. If you miss a meeting you can contribute in other ways asynchronous, the importance is to be active in your group.
write reflective posts for each course topic (approx. 400-500 words each, include references to literature/resources).
comment on reflections written by your peers. The requriement is to be ACTIVE in this discussion.

The certificate will tell that HEDS is equivalent to two weeks of full-time studies.