Pre-service teachersʼ perceptions of, and experiences with, technology-enhanced transformative learning towards education for sustainable development

Avsec, Stanislav (author), Ferk Savec, Vesna (author)

Teacher education for sustainable development (ESD) is faced with continuing unsustainability trends, which require deep and enduring social transformation. Transformative learning is a possible solution to facilitating reflection on the cognitive and socio-emotional processes underpinning students’ learning towards sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to investigate students’ perceptions of, and experiences with, technology-enhanced self-directed learning and design thinking as possible moderators of transformative learning in order to advance the concept and practice of teacher ESD. These perceptions and experiences are represented by 225 pedagogical and non-pedagogical students from the University of Ljubljana, asked to respond anonymously to three online questionnaires in May and June 2021. Findings indicate that strengthening the transformative aspect of ESD in pre-service teachers requires the consideration of critical reflection, self-awareness, risk propensity, holistic view and openness to diversity, and social support. Moreover, self-directed learning was found to be a moderator for transformative learning among pre-service science teachers, while design thinking was evenly developed among transformative learning for both low- and high-ability students, no matter the study programme. The conditioning factors and explanatory arguments for these results are also discussed.

• Language: English
• Keywords: teacher education for sustainable development, ESD, transformative learning, self-directed learning, design thinking, online learning, pre-service teachers
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: PEF - Faculty of Education
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2021
• Number of pages: 28 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 13, iss. 18, art. 10443
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-131235
• UDC: 378
• ISSN on article: 2071-1050
• DOI: 10.3390/su131810443
• COBISS.SI-ID: 77474307
• Publication date in RUL: 13.10.2021

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Sustainability
• Shortened title: Sustainability
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2071-1050
• COBISS.SI-ID: 5324897

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: spletno učenje, oblikovalsko mišljenje, bodoči učitelji, izobraževanje učiteljev