7. Learning and teaching

Best practice

When you leave Charles Sturt University, you’ll have the skills, knowledge and experience to make a positive impact and contribution to society and our environment, plus more and more businesses are placing emphasis on sustainability skills when recruiting.

This framework explores education for sustainability (EfS) through the formal curriculum. It helps Charles Sturt University create learning experiences that explore complex sustainability issues relevant to your studies.

Importance of sustainability in curriculum

Charles Sturt University embeds EfS into the curriculum and your entire university experience. Staff are supported to re-focus curriculum to pursue EfS agendas and skills.

When graduating Charles Sturt University, you’ll be a sustainability literate graduate, equipped to meet future societal challenges.

Progress toward best practice

This framework was benchmarked in 2016. The below graph illustrates our progress towards best practice across the eight (8) activity areas. The green bars reaching four (4) highlight best practice and the lower bars indicate Charles Sturt’s ratings over time. An absence of a blue bar indicates ‘no progress’.

Graph - this framework was benchmarked in 2016. Described above

What you can do

Action Plan

Sustainability at Charles Sturt is committed to connecting students and teachers with sustainability values and practices.

Staff contribution to sustainability in curriculum

We’re all committed to ensuring our students succeed in life and work after they graduate from Charles Sturt. The Sustainable Practices hub within the Graduate Learning Outcomes (GLO's) is one of nine dimensions that will equip students with the knowledge, skills and capacity to apply themselves to challenges that employers and the wider community face today and into the future.

All of our graduates will understand how their decisions can compound current challenges or actively contribute to global and local sustainability. Together, we‘ll live up to the Wiradjuri phrase, 'yindyamarra winhanganha' - the wisdom of respectfully knowing how to live well in a world worth living in.

As a staff member:

  • Visit the Sustainable Practices resources hub, which will guide you on how to integrate sustainability into courses.
  • Discuss sustainability in curriculum with your colleagues, and share good practices and learning resources.
  • Provide an enriching learning experience for students by implementing examples of good practices from Charles Sturt University’s campuses and within our regional communities.
  • Take a look at these short film resources [DOC 17KB].
  • Complete the GLO Sustainable Practices ELMO training module to include sustainability into your curriculum.
  • Take a look at the finalist video for the Australasian 2019 Green Gown Awards for Learning Teaching and Skills that demonstrates the value of sustainable practices within the Graduate Learning Outcomes.

ELMO Training Module - GLO: Sustainable Practices

Designed in 2024, this course was developed to assist Course Directors and Lecturers understand the value of utilising the Sustainable Practices Graduate Learning Outcome, and implement processes for aligning and embedding content across a course or subject.

The module provides the following learnings:

  • The Foundations: What University policy and procedures state in terms of the graduate learning outcomes
  • Understanding the concept of sustainability
  • Designing subjects and courses to include the sustainable practice graduate learning outcome
  • Possible shortcuts
  • Resource directory

Additional resources can be found on the Resource Hub on the GLO website including course design resources; subject level materials; quality assurance guides; and pathways to further assistance.

Sustainable Practices short course

Student involvement in sustainability in curriculum

As a Charles Sturt University student:

  • Contact Sustainability at Charles Sturt to discuss potential student projects or internships, where you’ll work on real-world sustainability challenges.
  • Identify professional development outside of the university, such as sustainability-themed conferences, then contact Sustainability at Charles Sturt to discuss how we might support your participation in these.
  • Find out more about how the STRIVE program can also gain you credits for any work on sustainability initiatives.

Sustainable Development Goals

Charles Sturt University aligns our research, policies, procedures, and other work with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These are the most relevant SDGs for this initiative.

Goal 04 - Quality Education