Sustainable Development as a Meta-Context for Engineering Education
At the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, there is unprecedented awareness of the need for a transformation in development, to meet the needs of the present while also preserving the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. However, within engineering, educators still...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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International Centre for Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (S D E W E S)
2013
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/8490 |
| _version_ | 1848745673941319680 |
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| author | Mulder, K. Desha, C. Hargroves, Charlie |
| author_facet | Mulder, K. Desha, C. Hargroves, Charlie |
| author_sort | Mulder, K. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | At the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, there is unprecedented awareness of the need for a transformation in development, to meet the needs of the present while also preserving the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. However, within engineering, educators still tend to regard such development as an ‘aspect’ of engineering rather than an overarching meta-context, with ad hoc and highly variable references to topics. Furthermore, within a milieu of interpretations there can appear to be conflicting needs for achieving sustainable development, which can be confusing for students and educators alike. Different articulations of sustainable development can create dilemmas around conflicting needs for designers and researchers, at the level of specific designs and (sub-) disciplinary analysis. Hence sustainability issues need to be addressed at a meta-level using a whole of system approach, so that decisions regarding these dilemmas can be made. With this appreciation, and in light of curriculum renewal challenges that also exist in engineering education, this paper considers how educators might take the next step to move from sustainable development being an interesting ‘aspect’ of the curriculum, to sustainable development as a meta-context for curriculum renewal. It is concluded that capacity building for such strategic considerations is critical in engineering education. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:21:06Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-8490 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:21:06Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | International Centre for Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (S D E W E S) |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-84902017-09-13T16:06:25Z Sustainable Development as a Meta-Context for Engineering Education Mulder, K. Desha, C. Hargroves, Charlie Whole of system approach Dynamic and deliberative curriculum renewal Meta-context Sustainable development Engineering education At the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, there is unprecedented awareness of the need for a transformation in development, to meet the needs of the present while also preserving the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. However, within engineering, educators still tend to regard such development as an ‘aspect’ of engineering rather than an overarching meta-context, with ad hoc and highly variable references to topics. Furthermore, within a milieu of interpretations there can appear to be conflicting needs for achieving sustainable development, which can be confusing for students and educators alike. Different articulations of sustainable development can create dilemmas around conflicting needs for designers and researchers, at the level of specific designs and (sub-) disciplinary analysis. Hence sustainability issues need to be addressed at a meta-level using a whole of system approach, so that decisions regarding these dilemmas can be made. With this appreciation, and in light of curriculum renewal challenges that also exist in engineering education, this paper considers how educators might take the next step to move from sustainable development being an interesting ‘aspect’ of the curriculum, to sustainable development as a meta-context for curriculum renewal. It is concluded that capacity building for such strategic considerations is critical in engineering education. 2013 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/8490 10.13044/j.sdewes.2013.01.0023 International Centre for Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (S D E W E S) unknown |
| spellingShingle | Whole of system approach Dynamic and deliberative curriculum renewal Meta-context Sustainable development Engineering education Mulder, K. Desha, C. Hargroves, Charlie Sustainable Development as a Meta-Context for Engineering Education |
| title | Sustainable Development as a Meta-Context for Engineering Education |
| title_full | Sustainable Development as a Meta-Context for Engineering Education |
| title_fullStr | Sustainable Development as a Meta-Context for Engineering Education |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sustainable Development as a Meta-Context for Engineering Education |
| title_short | Sustainable Development as a Meta-Context for Engineering Education |
| title_sort | sustainable development as a meta-context for engineering education |
| topic | Whole of system approach Dynamic and deliberative curriculum renewal Meta-context Sustainable development Engineering education |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/8490 |