Overview
Higher Education Didactics for Sustainability (HEDS) is an international online course for educators, educational developers and others involved in higher education who want to explore and develop teaching and learning for sustainability.
HEDS combines problem-based learning (PBL), collaborative inquiry, common webinars and asynchronous activities. Participants work in small, internationally and interdisciplinarily diverse PBL groups, bringing experiences from their own disciplines, institutions and educational contexts into the learning process.
The course is not primarily about receiving a fixed body of content. Instead, participants investigate questions, perspectives and challenges that matter in their own practice and make sense of them together with peers.
The course language is English and participation is entirely online.
How HEDS works
PBL groups form the core of the learning experience. Each group is supported by a facilitator pair, particularly during the early stages of the course. As the group develops, participants take increasing responsibility for meetings, inquiry and collaboration.
Common webinars and cross-group activities provide opportunities to introduce perspectives, meet across groups and share emerging questions and insights. Between synchronous activities, participants work individually and collaboratively with readings, reflection and inquiry relevant to their own learning process.
HEDS values presence, care, curiosity, openness, respect and active participation. Differences in disciplinary, institutional, cultural and geographical perspectives are treated as resources for learning.
The course journey
The course develops through five interconnected topics:
Topic 1 – Connecting to the world and each other
Participants connect with the course community and explore their own experiences, assumptions and understandings of sustainability. Attention is given both to relationships within the learning community and to different ways of understanding our relationship with the wider world.
Topic 2 – Competences in higher education
Participants explore different frameworks for sustainability competences and consider how such competences relate to curricula, teaching, learning and institutional contexts.
Topic 3 – Didactic approaches to ESD teaching and learning
The focus shifts to educational approaches and didactic choices. Participants critically explore perspectives such as holism, pluralism and transdisciplinarity and consider how sustainability can be meaningfully addressed in different disciplinary settings.
Topic 4 – The role of the university
Participants zoom out from individual teaching practices to consider the wider role of universities in relation to sustainability challenges, possible futures, knowledge creation, society and institutional responsibility.
Topic 5 – Lessons learned and future practice
The concluding phase creates space to reflect on the learning journey, share experiences and consider how insights from HEDS may influence future educational practice.
The exact activities, resources and questions within each topic are developed by the course team and may evolve between course iterations.
Intended learning outcomes
After completing HEDS, participants should be able to:
- critically reflect on principles and paradigms underlying sustainability and their implications for educational practice and curriculum design;
- apply and critically evaluate sustainability competence frameworks in relation to teaching and curriculum development;
- integrate and critically examine didactic approaches to education for sustainability, considering disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives;
- reflect on the role and responsibilities of higher education in relation to sustainability challenges and possible futures.
The intended learning outcomes provide a shared direction for the course while leaving room for participants and PBL groups to connect the learning to their own professional contexts, questions and interests.
Participation and workload
HEDS 2027 runs from 18 January to 28 April 2027 and corresponds to approximately 80 hours of work in total.
Participation includes recurring synchronous PBL group meetings, common webinars and cross-group activities, as well as asynchronous individual and collaborative work.
Common webinars are planned mainly for Mondays and Fridays, while recurring PBL meetings are expected to take place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays. Exact webinar dates and times are communicated separately.
Active participation matters. Collaborative learning depends on group members being present, contributing their perspectives and taking shared responsibility for the learning process.
Applying to HEDS 2027
Participation begins with an application through the Apply to HEDS 2027 page.
Applying is the first step in the process. After facilitator capacity and possible recurring PBL meeting times have been established, applicants will be contacted again and asked to confirm their continued participation and which available PBL meeting times they can commit to.
Final places and PBL groups are confirmed only after this second step.
Recognition and participating institutions
HEDS is collaboratively organised across participating higher education institutions. The group of contributing institutions may vary between course iterations.
Local recognition, credits or other forms of professional merit are determined by each participant’s home institution.
Information about the contributing institutions for HEDS 2027 will be added once the course organisation has been confirmed.
Questions
For general questions about HEDS, please contact course coordinator Markus Schneider:
markus.schneider@kau.se