ESD and Digitalisation webinars

The winter 2021-2022, the BUP National Centre in Finland arranged the second webinar series instead of a new course for BUP teachers, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The theme for this year was Education for Sustainable Development and Digitalisation – Implication of Digital Technology for Education Policy and Practice.

The aim was to highlight the opportunities that Covid-19 has brought for reforming and innovating education. But also, contrary, to show negative implications. The target group was teachers in higher education and researchers at BUP participating universities, but the events were open for everyone interested. All webinars lasted for one hour.

The webinars had the following speakers and topics:

Yash Chawla, Assistant Professor, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland: “Predictors and Outcomes of Individual Knowledge on Early-Stage Pandemic: Social Media, Information Credibility, Public Opinion, and Behaviour in a Large-Scale Global Study”.

Shepherd Urenje, Specialist at SWEDESD, Uppsala University, Sweden: “Smart Phones, Gorillas and Armed Conflicts”.

Jukka Manner, Professor, Aalto University, Finland: “Sustainable or Negative ICT? The Impact of ICT in Respect of Energy and Resource Demand”.

Charlotta Hilli, PhD, Åbo Akademi University, Finland: “Towards a Sustainable Virtual Higher Education? Entanglements of Digital Technologies, Didaktik, Trust and Frustrations”.

All presentations are available in the playlist Implementing sustainability at universities on The Baltic University Programme’s Youtube channel.

Participant evaluation

All four webinars got positive feedback, the combined average evaluation was 4,45/5. The number of participants varied between 19 and 35, which is less than the participation at the similar webinars held in the winter 2020-2021 which had between 50 and over 100 participants per occasion. One interpretation of the differences is due to the so-called Zoom fatigue, as an effect of the prolonged Covid-19 isolation.

Voices of participants

Camilla Stenbäck - Participant from Åbo Akademi University

Before attending the the webinar the BUP was unknown to me. I didn’t really have any expectations except receiving more information about the programme and the team behind it.

The best part of the webinars was the variety of themes and discussions as well as lecturers attending the webinars.

I will bring with me knowledge gained from hearing about and sharing similar experiences with colleagues that are facing similar challenges and searching for solutions within sustainability.

Gert-Olof Boström - Participant from Umeå University

I had several expectations of the webinars. First it was to get knowledge from the area which the presenter represented. Also I expected to get inspiration and ideas. It was also nice to listen to the perspectives and interpretations of other people.

The best parts of the webinars were the presentations and the time set aside for questions. Because that presented a possibility to both get clarifications and to get a chance to ask specific questions to the presenter. It is always nice to be able to bring your own area into focus.

There is so much more to know. The webinars were a good source for catching up in different areas. I miss these types of opportunities. The webinars had interesting topics and the presenters were open for questions, it was also a good atmosphere.