Education for Sustainable Development

• Trinity College, Dublin
• Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur

• Education
• Social Sciences, Journalism and Information
• Teaching and Learning

• Digital Innovation and the SDGs – Open Module, School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies and School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College
• Jugaad: Indigenous Innovation – School of Management and Entrepreneurship Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur

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Context

This initiative outlines how we addressed the global, intercultural and interdisciplinary dimensions of sustainability by connecting students from separate, but complementary, sustainability modules in Ireland and India in a Collaborative Online Learning (COIL) experience for education for sustainable development. Students taking Digital Innovation for the SDGs (Trinity College, Dublin) and those taking Indigenous Innovation: Jugaad (Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur) worked together in mixed groups on a four-week, assessed, comparative sustainability exercise.

The experience was designed to extend classroom learning into a cross-cultural, international dimension and align with the principles of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), which emphasises equipping learners with the knowledge, skills, and values needed to address global challenges through cooperation and critical reflection (UNESCO, 2017).

Purpose

The purpose of the initiative was to deepen students’ engagement with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by situating them within diverse cultural, social, and economic contexts. Rather than approaching sustainability from a single perspective, students were encouraged to draw on their distinct disciplines to interrogate how global problems manifest differently in Ireland and India, while also exploring common approaches and shared values to tackling them. This reflects O’Dowd’s (2018) understanding of COIL as a pedagogy that fosters intercultural dialogue and collaborative knowledge-building.

Activities

Mixed interinstitutional student groups were allocated an SDG and were required to identify one issue, common to both countries, and related to a target within the SDG. They were required to identify a common approach or solution to the issue and consider specific implementation issues relevant to each context.

The activity began with a synchronous shared lecture (facilitated by videoconference) between the two classes where the rationale and background to the activity was presented. The group working activity was described and the students were then assigned into mixed Irish–Indian groups. The student groups then met for the first time in virtual meeting rooms where they encouraged to introduce themselves, setup communication channels (WhatsApp groups being the preferred medium), start brainstorming on their task, and plan out their working schedule.

Over the following three weeks they worked together, across the time zones and cultures, to create a collaborative presentation on their common sustainability issue. This ensured that students recognised both the global nature of sustainability challenges and the localised realities of their implementation.

At the end of the four weeks, a synchronous shared presentation session allowed the co-located groups to present their findings to both classes and take questions on their work. Debrief sessions were held in each location, allowing for guided reflection and discussion the range of experiences the students underwent in the activity.

Significance

The significance of the initiative lies in how it enriched sustainability education through intercultural collaboration by combining COIL with sustainability education. By working with peers from another cultural context, students were encouraged to reflect on their own assumptions, interrogate their underlying values, develop empathy, and respect alternative perspectives. In addition to identifying points of dissonance they also identified points of convergence, where shared challenges called for cooperative, context-sensitive solutions.

This COIL project offered students in Ireland and India a structured and transformative learning experience that combined sustainability-focused academic content with intercultural collaboration. By linking global goals to local realities, the initiative highlighted the interconnectedness of sustainability challenges and the importance of cooperative problem-solving. Beyond academic outcomes, it contributed to the broader aims of ESD by fostering global citizenship, critical thinking, and intercultural competence, equipping students with essential capacities to address sustainability challenges in an interconnected world.

The initiative was a partnership across institutions, with faculty in Ireland and India co-designing the experience, and facilitating the student interaction. This required all faculty to be interculturally competent and sensitive and demonstrate high degree of commitment and trust. Faculty collaboration yielded significant intercultural learning, enriching both conceptual framing and delivery.

Students played an active and central role in this initiative, working in mixed Irish–Indian groups to research, design, and deliver presentations on their assigned SDGs. They shaped the direction of their projects by selecting specific issues relevant to both contexts, negotiating perspectives, and co-creating solutions. This participatory approach positioned students not only as learners but also as co-leaders of the process.

By participating in this initiative, students were expected to achieve the following outcomes:

• Identify ways in which innovation (digital and non-digital) can potentially achieve the SDGs.

• Understand and describe the challenges involved with leveraging technology and innovation to achieve the SDGs, and make informed decisions about how to overcome these challenges.
• Understand the benefits and problems associated with innovation to achieve the SDGs and learn how these are debated and resolved (or not) in specialist, multidisciplinary, and various socio-cultural environments.
• Critically examine the ethical considerations surrounding innovation in various social, cultural, and political contexts.
• Demonstrate effective presentation skills and the ability to work both individually and as part of multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary project team in a variety of learning environments.

These outcomes were assessed through the joint group presentations, which provided evidence of both content knowledge and collaborative process.

The initiative was structured around an adapted Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) framework developed at the State University of New York ( https://coil.suny.edu/). During the design phase, faculty agreed on student objectives, project duration, task design, and digital tools, while also considering the distinct disciplinary contexts of participating students, despite both modules focusing on sustainability. The project began with a joint online workshop where students were introduced to the initiative, placed in inter-institutional groups, and assigned their activity. Each group was allocated a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) and tasked with identifying a challenge linked to a specific target that was relevant in both countries. They then proposed potential solutions, ideally involving a shared approach, and examined the social and cultural factors influencing implementation. Pedagogically, the project emphasised dialogue and co-creation rather than passive knowledge transfer, drawing on constructivist and participatory learning principles. This approach fostered systems thinking by encouraging analysis of local–global interconnections.

Each mixed Irish–Indian student group delivered a synchronous blended presentation to both classes and took questions from the student body. Assessment criteria emphasised:

• Content knowledge (understanding of SDG targets and local–global linkages),
• Critical analysis (comparison of challenges across Ireland and India),
• Collaboration (evidence of joint research and co-creation), and
• Communication (clarity, creativity, and intercultural awareness in presenting findings).

The individual reflection required students to focus on the experience of the intercultural learning experience from their own perspective. This allowed the teaching team to gain insights into the process alongside the final product.

The initiative had a strong impact on both students and the teaching team. Students valued the exposure to diverse global perspectives and gained an awareness of cultural, climatic, and socioeconomic differences affecting SDG implementation. The disciplinary mix had a positive impact with the interdisciplinary collaboration encouraging problem-solving and the value of both digital and frugal innovation that connect technology with local needs.

Common challenges included communication barriers, including time zones, differing working styles, and cultural norms. Suggested improvements included a longer engagement period to provide more time for meaningful engagement, and more facilitation of the groups.

The faculty involved gained an experience of inter-institutional collaborative teaching that can be applied in other modules and contexts.

At the institutional level, the project demonstrated the value of COIL as a meaningful activity to support Education for Sustainable Development without requiring physical mobility. It strengthened ties between the participating Irish and Indian institutions, laying the groundwork for future collaborations in teaching and research.

• Intercultural and contextual sensitivity – take time to understand the context of the students from both locations (cultural, disciplinary, etc) and promote local interpretation. Design for the learning process, not the product – design for student engagement, co-creation, and dialogue. Integrate reflection – reflection deepens understanding on intercultural learning.

• https://coil.suny.edu/