Fostering Higher Education Engagement with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals: A Transformative Pedagogical Approach

Higher education institutions (HEIs) play a crucial role in shaping sustainable societies and advancing emerging paradigms. Their mission extends to nurturing development through research and teaching, facilitating the transfer of cutting-edge knowledge to students, and honing their skill sets. To contribute significantly to the realization of a more sustainable global society, HEIs are challenged to adapt their curricula to address both local and global issues while endorsing instructional strategies that promote collaborative decision-making, interdisciplinary thinking, and integrated planning. Recognizing the evolving landscape, accreditation and rating organizations have acknowledged the imperative to revise their evaluation standards for assessing HEI success. The advent of information and communication technology (ICT), particularly in the aftermath of the Coronavirus pandemic, has ushered in a transformative era in the teaching-learning process. This chapter delves into innovative pedagogical strategies aimed at facilitating the learning of the UN’s’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in HEIs. Specifically, it investigates the case of the “Green Computing” course, where students engage with the SDGs and explore their intricate interconnections with the environment, society, and the economy. The foundation of this research is built upon the 17 SDGs, which received unanimous approval from 193 nations in 2015. Within this study, we investigate the utilization of constructivist teaching methods, with a specific focus on the application of whiteboard animations. These animations employ hand-drawn visuals accompanied by audio explanations to effectively communicate the essence and significance of the SDGs. Furthermore, we utilize the K-W-L chart, which stands for “Know,” “Want to Know,” and “Learned,” as an assessment tool to gauge the effectiveness of this teaching approach. The outcomes of this research are promising, as students have reported significant benefits. Notably, the integration of whiteboard animation videos has been shown to boost student engagement in the classroom (83%), maintain their focus during lessons (89%), improve their ability to retain knowledge (72%), and enhance the overall clarity of the course content (79%). Furthermore, students provide valuable insights into optimizing the use of video clips, suggesting brief durations, alignment with course objectives, and controlled quantities as best practices. This research underscores the potency of ICT in imparting knowledge and sensitizing the new generation to critical SDG-related issues, exemplifying the effectiveness of a participatory pedagogical approach in the context of HEIs.