Melin, Martin
- Department of People and Society, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
A new way of doing education will be important to cultivate the competences neededto deal with the challenge of sustainability in agrifood and forestry systems. Overall,the new educational approach is characterised by 1) a shift from theory to phenomenonand action as the starting point for the learning process (‘experiential learning’, ‘actionlearning’) and 2) a shift from knowledge to competence as the focus of the educationalactivities. The Nextfood project aims at contributing to these shifts by facilitatingaccording to a master manual worked out by the project (deliverable D2.2) a transitionto action learning in twelve educational cases in Africa, India and Europe.Simultaneously, research is done according to an action research protocol (deliverableD2.1) on the case transition process and on effects of action learning on students andinvolved stakeholders. The present report on the implementation of this educationalstrategy in the twelve cases focus on:(1) the case development process (main challenges and supporting forcesassociated with implementation of the Nextfood approach)(2) the students’ experiences and learning outcomes (their development of keycompetences and transition to an experiential learning mode)(3) benefits of involving non-university stakeholders (their learning outcomes andcontributions)The cases have collected data on the development and implementation of the intendededucational activities. In a separate section of the case development reports(deliverable D2.6), the cases have been asked to report on how these data werecollected, the analysis process, what the data indicate and whether there were anysignificant factors influencing the validity and reliability of the findings. These data formthe basis for the findings reported in this document.Data on the process of implementing action learning showed that a major challenge isto build an understanding of the need for interdisciplinary, systems-oriented, selfdirected, group and peer action learning having as primary focus the training of keycompetences needed for sustainable development. To a varying degree this has beenexperienced in several cases with academic institutions, teachers, students and offcampus stakeholders involved in the education. This indicates a need for a shift inculture and mindset at several levels to remove the formal and practical obstaclesidentified and to create a favourable environment and motivation for a different kind oflearning and assessment strategy. Although the reported challenges outnumbered thesupporting forces, the latter included interest and support for systems-oriented actionlearning among institutions at various levels of governments and educationalinstitutions and among individual stakeholders and commercial actors. Severalscientific reports also strongly support the implementation of this approach.Data from the students’ self-assessment and information extracted from their reflectiondocuments suggested a variable effect of action learning on the students’ selfdevelopment of key competences. Possible causal relationships have not beenexplored so far, but it seems likely that the extent to which the action-learning approachhas been implemented in a case, plays an important role. So do probably also factorssuch as pre-knowledge about and motivation for action learning among teachers,students and other stakeholders involved. When it comes to students’ transition in mindset and mode of learning, there wasindication that reflection was valued as a competence on which development of all theothers depend, and several students praised the effect improved reflectioncompetence had on their lives outside university. In several cases, students that cameinto the course with expectations to gain certain pieces of knowledge or technical skills,gradually focused less on those aspects and more on developing the corecompetences. Further, several cases reported increasing enthusiasm about actionlearning among students, but also examples of students that had the same questionsafter the course as they had before. The causal factors for this variability are probablysimilar to those mentioned above regarding competence development but were notinvestigated.Information about involving non-university stakeholders strongly suggests that theyconsider their interaction with students as useful learning opportunities enabling themto see their situation in different perspectives, that students were perceived as partnerswith important knowledge, and that the process of experience sharing worked in bothdirections. Similarly, their contributions are highly valued by course facilitators andstudents.
Published in
Publisher: NextFOOD
SLU Authors
UKÄ Subject classification
Pedagogy
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/109490