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- Integrating sustainable approaches in distance learning universities: the experience of Universidade AbertaPublication . Mapar, Mahsa; Nicolau, Paula Bacelar; Ferreira, Célia; Martins, Rute; Martinho, Ana Paula; Pereira, Pedro; Simão, João; Teixeira, Teresa; Trindade, Jorge; Fernandes, Paula Vaz; Caeiro, SandraOne of the key components in practicing sustainability and developing a sustainable Higher Education Institution (HEI) is the role played by the institution community including students and its staff, both administrative and academics according to a whole-campus approach. However, there is still a lack of how to integrate sustainability-related approaches into the HEIs, by involving the whole community of the HEI, in particular in distance-learning institutions. Recognizing this lack, Universidade Aberta (UAb), the Portuguese Distance Learning University, has recently integrated sustainability approaches into the University actions by establishing the “UAb Sustainable Campus Group” in 2021. In line with Agenda 2030, the Group promotes the sustainability approaches at UAb in 5 core elements of sustainability actions at HEIs: i) planning and administration, ii) operation and innovation, iii) academia and research, iv) assessment and reporting, and v) involvement with the community. This paper aims to reveal the recent sustainability initiatives (2021-2023) carried out by the Group and enlighten how a distance-learning University's actions, programs, and approaches have been integrated into the core elements of sustainability actions at HEIs. Several steps were implemented to address sustainability initiatives at UAb based on the proposed framework, considering: 1) “planning and administration”, by the formal commitment to sustainability that arose in the UAb Strategic Plan (2019-2023) to enforce sustainability initiatives centered on people and social commitment; 2) “operation”, by UAb contribution to the resource efficiency programs; 3) “academia and research”, by designing a micro-credential module entitled “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”, that were piloted in the academic year 2022-2023 and were evaluated the students’ knowledge improvement on SDGs and sustainability and their perceptions on the effectiveness of the training through pre- and postquestionnaires; 4) “assessment and reporting”, through self-assessment and reporting tools, among them, Time Higher Education Impact Ranking, which ranked the UAb sustainability initiatives towards SDGs 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, and 17. Also, with the collaboration of the administrative staff, the UAb Ecological Footprint (EF) was self-assessed through the University Ecological Footprint Calculator, which allows HEIs to calculate their consumption of natural resources and ecosystem services within the direct and indirect responsibilities of the administration, by bearing in mind the specific feature of distance learning. The results for “planning and administration” showed the UAb commitment to sustainable campus by the signatory of several associations, e.g., RCS-Portugal, AASHE - Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, and Lisbon Green Commitment to implement a set of measures to reduce the environmental impacts by 2030. In the “operation” element, the results revealed the UAb contribution to the Resource Efficiency Program in Public Administration - ECO.AP 2030 to reduce the consumption of resources and respective Greenhouse Gas emissions facilities, as well as the Energy Saving Plan (2022-2023). The results of the “academia and research” element based on the SDGs course showed the students’ knowledge improvement of both Sustainability and SDGs and a high level of satisfaction with the training, mainly appreciating the “diversified learning resources”. The results of the “assessment and reporting” based on THE displayed the UAb improvement on SDGs 4 and 5. The results of the EF calculator disclosed that “staff labour” was the main driver of the UAb Footprint in direct responsibility, whereas “energy consumption at home” was the main indirect contributor to the UAb Footprint, which showed the effect of distance learning on the results. Future work of the Group includes offering the SDGs micro-credential, targeting also public and private organizations, and later as a formal curricular unit in various degrees, thus enhancing the “involving the community” element. Also, based on the results of the assessment tools, the major drivers of unsustainability at UAb will be identified to assist the necessary improvement to reduce the environmental impact of UAb, thus reinforcing its commitment to building a more sustainable community. The framework for the implementation of sustainability in UAb can be adapted and tested in other HEI to produce robust knowledge and action in this context.
- Estratégias e iniciativas da Universidade Aberta para a promoção da originalidade nos trabalhos académicosPublication . Novo, Ana; Nobre, Ana; Simão, João; Pereira, PedroO plágio tem assumido crescente relevância no ensino superior, sendo responsabilidade de todos contribuir para a integridade e originalidade dos trabalhos académicos. O presente capítulo pretende ilustrar as atividades desenvolvidas junto dos docentes e estudantes e as boas práticas implementadas pelo Grupo de Trabalho para a Promoção da Originalidade nos Trabalhos Académicos na Universidade Aberta (2017-2020), com o objetivo de prevenir e sensibilizar a comunidade académica para a adoção de comportamentos éticos relativamente à utilização de informação.
- People’s voices on the sustainable forest reform in the Democratic Republic of CongoPublication . Amaral, Filomena; Simão, JoãoSince the early 2000s, the Democratic Republic of Congo has been conducting a reform of its forestry sector with the publication of The Forest Code (2002). The implementation of this law, which aims to assure the participation of all stakeholders, has been evolving slowly since then. The present research aims to evaluate the knowledge local communities and indigenous people detain over the ongoing reform, and the expectations they created when negotiations over the implementation of industrial harvesting activities in their traditional territories began. By interviewing local people, we came to understand that insufficient knowledge regarding the law gathers with a lack of concern towards ecological or environmental matters and with the need of seeing basic needs satisfied; all this in a context in which different stakeholders’ responsibilities and negotiational terms are often misunderstood.
- Sustainability campus working group. Annual report: 2021-2022Publication . Caeiro, Sandra; Fernandes, Ana Paula; Martinho, Ana Paula; Ferreira, Célia; Simão, João; Trindade, Jorge; Mapar, Mahsa; Nicolau, Paula; Pereira, Pedro; Martins, Rute; Teixeira, Teresa
- A 5Ps approach to teaching and e-learning sustainability: the case of Universidade AbertaPublication . Mapar, Mahsa; Nicolau, Paula Bacelar; Dias, Marco; Ferreira, Célia; Manuelito, Helena; Martins, Rute; Martinho, Ana Paula; Pereira, Pedro; Simão, João; Trindade, Jorge; Fernandes, Paula Vaz; Caeiro, Sandra
- Integration of sustainability in the curricula of public higher education institutions in Portugal: do strategic plans and self-report align?Publication . Duarte, Marina; Caeiro, Sandra; Farinha, Carla; Moreira, Ana; Reis, Margarida Santos; Rigueiro, Constança; Simão, JoãoPurpose – This study aims to explore the alignment between strategic plans of the Portuguese public higher education institutions (HEIs) and their perception of the integration of sustainability in education and curricula. Design/methodology/approach – The strategic plans from 15 institutions were selected for content analysis; data about the integration of sustainability in education and curricula, from these HEI, were collected with an online questionnaire (self-report survey). Qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed. Findings – Strategic plans of the Portuguese public HEIs seem to not be sufficiently aligned with selfassessment integration of sustainability in education and curricula. Research limitations/implications – The classifications used in the content analysis were constructed and revised by the authors to reduce coder interpretation issues and subsequent bias in the results. However, some subjectivity could remain. The analysis of strategic plans and self-report surveys answered by top management, or a technician, does not assess the practices and sustainability implementation in education and curricula. Practical implications – This study allows the self-report of already-implemented practices to be compared to the planned strategy of HEI governance in Portugal as stated in their strategic plans. Originality/value – An analysis and respective insights on the lack of connection between strategic planning and self-report practices about sustainability implementation, using Portugal as a case study.
- Visões do labirinto no período clássico e em ComeniusPublication . Pinheiro, Luís; Bello, Maria do Rosário Lupi; Simão, JoãoO presente ensaio propõe uma específica definição do conceito de “labirinto” enquanto possível modelo para uma nova forma de conhecimento que recupere a dimensão unitiva do saber, perdida ao longo da História. Assim, apresenta-se um percurso retrospetivo, partindo da criação do labirinto clássico e do papel do Minotauro e avançando para o exemplo de Comenius, através do seu caminho em direção ao “paraíso do coração”. Como ponto conclusivo, pretende-se apresentar a proposta de uma utopia para o conhecimento que permita a junção da “emoção” à “razão”, numa unidade capaz de estabelecer uma colaboração efetiva entre diversas áreas do saber.
- Sustainability competences and pedagogical approaches at Universidade AbertaPublication . Caeiro, Sandra; Simão, João; Lozano, Rodrigo; Barreiro-Gen, MariaUniversidade Aberta (UAb) is the public Portuguese distance education university. It has around 6,000 students (full-time and exclusively engaged in distance education) and 340 employees (academic and administrative staff). UAb has focused on the quality of its service and has been recognised by several national and international entities, for example through its good practices in the areas of innovation and sustainability in higher education in 2019. This chapter presents the results from the 64 survey respondents. The main focus of the university is on cross-cutting themes, followed by social issues, environmental issues, and economic issues. The contribution is medium and the strength is medium. The ranking of the competences shows that Critical thinking and analysis is the highest, followed by Inter-disciplinary work. The ranking of the pedagogical approaches resulted in Project- or Problembased learning and Case studies were the highest, followed by Participatory action research. The correlation analysis showed that Mind and concept maps, Lecturing, Case studies and Participatory Action Research developed the most competences. The competences most developed were Personal involvement, Communication and use of media, and Strategic action. The results show that improvements could be realised to develop the whole set of sustainability competences in the degrees of Universidade Aberta, and more sustainability oriented pedagogical approaches could be considered in order to improve the university’s contribution to interdisciplinary issues and Sustainable Development Goals.
- E-Sustainability 2022 | Atas do Seminário Doutoral do Doutoramento em Sustentabilidade Social e DesenvolvimentoPublication . Barreto, Cristiane; Sayago, Dóris; Simão, João; Trindade, Jorge; Jacquinet, Marc; Caeiro, SandraEste e-book é o resultado das contribuições apresentadas pelos doutorandos de dois doutoramentos: Doutoramento em Sustentabilidade Social e Desenvolvimento, da Universidade Aberta; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Desenvolvimento sustentável da Universidade de Brasília., durante os dois dias e foi organizado em quatro grandes tópicos: i) Sociedade e Desenvolvimento local; ii) Ambiente, iii) Organizações e Governança e iv) Agroecologia. Apresentam-se de seguida as contribuições de cada tópico em forma de resumo alargado. A diversidade dos temas apresentados reflete não só a riqueza, complexidade e multidimensionalidade associadas ao conceito de sustentabilidade como a diversidade geográfica das comunicações.
- E-Sustainability 2021 | Atas do seminário doutoral do Doutoramento em Sustentabilidade Social e DesenvolvimentoPublication . Barreto, Cristiane; Sayago, Dóris; Simão, João; Trindade, Jorge; Jacquinet, Marc; Caeiro, SandraA presente obra reúne os contributos em forma de artigo resumido dos participantes no Seminário Doutoral Anual do Doutoramento em Sustentabilidade Social e Desenvolvimento, da Universidade Aberta de Portugal. Nesta publicação podem ser encontrados temas de economia, governança, ambiente, cidadania e responsabilidade social associados ao desenvolvimento sustentável. Os resultados apresentados estão associados aos desenvolvimentos mais recentes da investigação em dois doutoramentos: Doutoramento em Sustentabilidade Social e Desenvolvimento, da Universidade Aberta; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Desenvolvimento sustentável da Universidade de Brasília.