College of Agricultural and Life Sciences; Office of Sustainability; UF ONE Health Center of Excellence; Master of Sustainable Development Practice; College of Design, Construction and Planning; Field & Fork Campus Food Program
The SDGs Classroom Faculty Guide was developed by an interdisciplinary team to provide background information and resources to increase faculty awareness of the SDGs and encourage their integration into course content.
The SDGs in the Classroom Faculty Guide targets faculty, as well as others who develop and influence curricula (ie graduate students, program staff). In developing this guide, our interdisciplinary group hopes to achieve three main objectives:
1) Awareness;
2) Integration of SDGs in course content; and
3) Networking.
First, we hope to increase awareness of the SDGs as a tool for teaching and understanding the complex, interdisciplinary challenges faced today related to sustainability. The SDG Guide provides a basic, yet comprehensive overview of the SDGs and resources available through the broader SDG network, as well as connections specific to the University of Florida.
We also hope to increase the number of courses that integrate subject matter related to sustainability and the SDGs. Finally, we hope to expand our network of educators across campus interested in sustainable development to foster collaboration in teaching, research, and service. To develop and implement this SDG Guide, the interdisciplinary team met regularly and connected with stakeholders to identify needed resources for increasing awareness of issues relating to sustainability and the SDGs across campus. Our focus landed on the need for a peer-to-peer resource that explained how to integrate course content on the SDGs and emphasized the role of higher education institutions in helping students understand the importance of sustainability across disciplines. We explored existing guides, reports, and examples of SDG implementation on other campuses, then worked to develop and condense content to a concise guide for faculty. Our focus landed on the need for a peer-to-peer resource that explained how to integrate course content on the SDGs and emphasized the role of higher education institutions in helping students understand the importance of sustainability across disciplines. We explored existing guides, reports, and examples of SDG implementation on other campuses, then worked to develop and condense content to a concise guide for faculty. Our focus landed on the need for a peer-to-peer resource that explained how to integrate course content on the SDGs and emphasized the role of higher education institutions in helping students understand the importance of sustainability across disciplines. We explored existing guides, reports, and examples of SDG implementation on other campuses, then worked to develop and condense content to a concise guide for faculty.
In January 2021, we began sharing the document across our networks. The guide has sparked conversation across our campus, useful to our efforts to expand collaboration and implementation of this effort. A few workshops were offered in Spring 2021 and other activities will follow as we seek broader participation of faculty and students in the use and refinement of the SDG Guide. We are encouraged and excited by the discussions the SDG Guide has generated on our campus.
Thus far, this initiative has been highlighted at the SDSN-USA Annual Meeting, shared through University of Florida campus workshops, and distributed through networks connected to the team of authors with approximately 120 access points of the document and information shared through networks reaching 1,000s of educators. As the conversation sparked from the initial sharing of the document continues, expected outcomes and impact will be measured through enriched course content related to the SDGs, faculty engagement in additional workshops, and research collaborations for measuring student impact from SDG integration in course content. Critical to the consolidation and success of these outcomes is continued communication among stakeholders, increased commitment from supporting campus units, and continued faculty collaboration.
The SDG Faculty Guide initiative is an interdisciplinary effort that connects directly to the Education for the SDGs efforts in learning and teaching (2.1), while priming the conversation for connections to research efforts (2.2) and culture (2.3). It is an action based effort that aims to use the SDGs as a framework for interdisciplinary conversations, integration of the SDGs into course content, and research collaborations. We believe that by targeting this resource to faculty and staff, we can promote student learning around sustainable development as envisioned in the Agenda 2030 of Sustainable Development of the United Nations. Through this initiative, we are addressing an observed gap in communication and educational offerings, and welcome others to replicate and adapt the guide if such a gap is observed in their institution.
A consistent barrier to interdisciplinary efforts on a large campus is time; potential stakeholders for such a cross-campus initiative already have numerous responsibilities to balance within their disciplinary homes. Understanding that sustainability is a meta-discipline with ties to numerous disciplines across campus, our team moved forward with this initiative with those willing to devote time to developing the SDG Guide and hope others will join this evolving initiative in the future. Another barrier faced in the development of the SDG Guide was limited awareness of existing resources on campus and efforts already underway that have logical linkages to the SDG agenda. Finally, this initiative has been driven by a volunteer team of faculty and staff with no formal administrative support. We hope that the SDG Guide is a first step in engaging administration in further conversations regarding sustainability and the SDGs on campus, as well as understanding what barriers might prevent faculty engaging with this initiative.
This SDG Faculty Guide is adaptable for other institutions looking to provide faculty with a concise resource and initiate conversations regarding the SDGs on campus; specific institutional course examples and resources can be included in a replicated guide. We also see numerous opportunities to amplify this initiative within the University of Florida to reach the large, diverse faculty represented at our institution.
