Andy Lane from The Open University, UK gave a presentation about the Open Education and the Sustainable Development Goals: Making Change Happen as part of the online events by expert pool OERs & MOOCs within EMPOWER

1. Open Education and the Sustainable
Development Goals: Making Change Happen
Professor Andy Lane
School of Engineering and Innovation

2. Tertiary education matters

3. http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

4. Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and quality education
for all and promote lifelong learning
• By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education
leading to relevant and Goal-4 effective learning outcomes
• By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary
education so that they are ready for primary education
• By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and
tertiary education, including university
• By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and
vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship
• By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and
vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in
vulnerable situations
• By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and
numeracy
• By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable
development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable
lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global
citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development
• Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, nonviolent,
inclusive and effective learning environments for all
• By 2020, substantially expand globally the number of scholarships available to developing countries, in particular
least developed countries, small island developing States and African countries, for enrolment in higher education,
including vocational training and information and communications technology, technical, engineering and scientific
programmes, in developed countries and other developing countries
• By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for
teacher training in developing countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing states

5. Goal 4 Targets 3 and 7
• By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and
quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university
• By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed
to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through
education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human
rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence,
global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s
contribution to sustainable development
http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/globalpartnerships/

6. Goal 17: Revitalize the global partnership for
sustainable development
Systemic issues
Policy and institutional coherence
– Enhance global macroeconomic stability, including through policy coordination and
policy coherence
– Enhance policy coherence for sustainable development
– Respect each country’s policy space and leadership to establish and implement
policies for poverty eradication and sustainable development
Multi-stakeholder partnerships
– Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, complemented by
multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise,
technology and financial resources, to support the achievement of the sustainable
development goals in all countries, in particular developing countries
– Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships,
building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships

7. http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/opinion/2472665/systems-thinking-unlocking-the-sustainable-development-goals

8. Systems thinking and development
https://oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/how-to-use-systems-thinking-in-practice-good-new-guide/

9. Systems thinking can be applied to …
• Natural systems ─
biophysical entities like
ecosystems, the planet
Earth or the solar system
• Engineered (purposive)
systems ─ mechanical
equipment, vehicles,
computers, heating or
irrigation systems etc.
• Human (purposeful)
systems ─ organizations,
economic, educational,
environmental policies,
programmes, projects, etc.
http://environment-ecology.com/general-systems-theory/379-systems-thinking.html

10. Why do we need systems thinking?
• How we see the world
influences how we act
• People tend to see certain
types of problems in situations
• The success of reductionism
(scientific approach) has
pushed out holism (systems
approach)
• Complexity and uncertainty in
large scale systems require
different approaches

11. Systems thinking helps you act differently by …
• Taking an holistic viewpoint
• Exploring different levels of representation
of a situation
• Exploring different perspectives of actors in
the situation
• Looking for multiple causes and feedback –
interconnectedness – between components
• Actively involving participants in debates
• Using diagrams to help sense making and
design of interventions

12. Towards a theory of change model
Awareness, confidence and
capabilities
Access to public and private
resources
Prevailing national and
international social and cultural
norms
Prevailing national and
international regulations and
policies
individual
systemic
informal formal
After Rao et al, 2016

13. Towards a theory of change for open education
‘Student’ and ‘teacher’ led open
education practices
Access to digital infrastructure
and training and development
for open education
Leadership in HEI based open
education policies and practices
Influence on HE sector
regulations and policies on
frameworks, quality assurance,
funding and accountability
individual
systemic
informal formal

14. Influence diagram of factors affecting the system for
transforming teaching, learning and assessment of
Environmental Science within HE

15. References
• Chapman J (2002), System Failure: Why governments must learn to think
differently, Demos, http://www.demos.co.uk/files/systemfailure.pdf
• Draper S (2016) Systems thinking, unlocking the Sustainable Development
Goals, http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/opinion/2472665/systems-thinking-
unlocking-the-sustainable-development-goals
• Green D (2016) How Change Happens, London, Oxford University Press
• ICDE (2016) http://www.icde.org/open-education-resources
• Rao A, Sadler J, Kelleher D and Miller C (2016) Gender at Work: theory and
Practice for 21st Century Organisations, Routledge
• Stensaker B and Harvey l (2011) Accountability in Higher Education: Global
Perspectives on Trust and Power, Routledge
• Uvalić-Trumbić S and Daniel J (2016) Sustainable Development Begins with
Education, Journal of Learning for Development, 3(3); pp 3-8