The Faculty of Engineering and IT's Teaching & Learning Lab presents a double session beginning with a seminar by guest speaker Professor Kate O'Brien.
Join guest speaker Professor Kate O’Brien from the University of Queensland's School of Chemical Engineering as she talks about how the characteristics of sustainability provide an excellent learning opportunity for students and academics alike, to build the skills needed to tackle other complex, open-ended problems. These skills are “future literacies”, such as critical thinking and collaboration, that employers want and that our graduates need in order to adapt to a rapidly changing workplace.
Transforming our economy and society from the current “take-make-waste” paradigm to genuinely sustainable practices is often characterized as a “wicked problem”, which cannot be solved with technical solutions alone. Tackling any aspect of sustainability involves value-judgements and trade-offs, and can trigger unintended consequences which may be worse than the problem that was “solved”. Similarly, teaching sustainability competencies can seem like an overwhelming challenge: the curriculum is already crowded, there is no single agreed definition or indicator for sustainability, and the topic is riddled with contested issues and competing priorities.
Speakers:
Schedule:
10.30am – 11:15am
11:20am – 12:20pm
