Witten didactics aims to enable students to assume personal and social responsibility. The concept of education for sustainable development (ESD) formulates a similar goal. ESD empowers students who want to face the challenges of socio-ecological development today and in the future. Through scientific and ethical education, university ESD enables students to understand and evaluate sustainability challenges and to find and try out opportunities for change and action.

The aim is to name precise, clear and self-explanatory characteristics and to use them to show what a "Witten ESD" can mean for the content and formats of individual courses at the UW/H. The characteristics provide orientation, for example for an ESD teaching award or the evaluation of courses. They are to be continuously adapted, expanded and revised in dialog with UW/H lecturers. The following list of characteristics is derived and condensed from existing literature on characteristics of (university) ESD and ESD competencies as well as Witten didactics:

1. Future-relevant content
   Topics that clearly address sustainable development (including reference to the Sustainable Development Goals)
   
2. Student interest
   Orientation towards the reality of students' lives
   
3. Independent and participatory learning processes
   Independent and self-determined acquisition of knowledge through co-design by students
   
4. Systemic view
   Systemic analysis of complex interactions and consequences across different areas and scales
   
5. Diversity of perspectives
   Consideration of different dimensions of sustainability, different bodies of knowledge and different perspectives on a problem
   
6. Promoting the ability to judge and tolerance of ambiguity
   Recognizing and dealing with contradictions, uncertainties, conflicting goals and risks
   
7. Promoting value orientation
   Dealing with ethical issues of sustainable development and reference to social values, norms and practices
   
8. Reflection skills and individual personality development
   Examination of individual values and worldview as well as reflection on the possibilities and limits of one's own actions in relation to sustainable development
   
9. Development of future perspectives
   Development of relevant future perspectives for sustainable development
   
10. Participation and co-design
    Examination of opportunities for participation in social change
    
11. Transfer and implementation
    Application of knowledge to specific contexts and identification of opportunities for action
    
12. Sustainability challenges in the subject & future professional field
    Dealing with questions of scientific ethics, the role and responsibility of one's own subject and future profession
    
13. Coping strategies and resilience
    Reflection on stressful feelings and strategies for dealing with unsustainable changes that are already taking place

A detailed explanation of the characteristics including questions for the teaching evaluation and sources can be requested from the Sustainability Networking Office(annaliesa.hilger@spam protectuni-wh.de).

ESD in university didactics

The university didactics program offers several training courses on education for sustainable development in university teaching.

Focus on "Sustainability & Transformation"

Some courses in the Studium fundamentale address a broad spectrum of currently pressing sustainability debates from politics and society as well as scientific principles on planetary boundaries. In addition, some courses are designed as transformative courses that make it possible to experience and learn ways and methods for individual and social change.

Prospective ESD Teaching Award

The teaching award is aimed at all UW/H lecturers who deal with sustainable development topics or promote students' ESD skills in innovative teaching formats. The award is based on the characteristics of ESD courses.

Information from DG Hoch-N incl. guidelines "Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in university teaching"

Good practice collection of the netzwerk n