Stenz update
Samuel Mann
Folks,
Quick update.
We’ve been working on the structure of the Wiki, turning it into a structure that will (hopefully) work as both a collaborative worksite and a brochure/community site: http://wikieducator.org/Stenz
You’ll see there a new logo (thanks to Isabel Boek from our design team at OP). This is intended to cover both strong sustainability and the notion of a target).
Kate Kearins has volunteered to lead the benchmarking research project. Ella Lawton (OP) is writing the application for the Ako project fund. Please contact her if you can help. We should have a draft soonish.
Kate also raises the following points about institutional representation which seem inherently sensible. I’ll do this unless anyone has a better suggestion.
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I also thought about the letter to the VCs and CEOs. I am pretty sure we would not want 36 nominated folk to join our mini A B C working groups as was one suggestion last Thursday. We'd end up with something unworkable at the end of the day (we witnessed how much better we ourselves worked to get tasks done in pairs or threesomes). What we do need is a VC/CEO-nominated contact at each institution. And when we connect with each institution for whatever purpose, we could elect whether to connect primarily with the VC/CEO or his/her nominee on each occasion (eg for the survey etc). We could also use that list to inform folk as to what we are planning to do, and to seek any help on specific tasks. It is pointless having more than nominated contacts at this stage I think. So my suggestion is we just ask for a VC/CEO-nominated contact with some knowledge of sustainability curriculum initiatives at each institution at this stage.
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We do need things for other people to do to feel they can contribute, so, on the website you’ll see
- a list of “Ambassadors” (just our names at the moment). You’ll also see a button that doesn’t work yet. I’m aiming for a “one click” show of support (like the one on www.signon.org.nz).
- a FAQ – needs more questions, more several answers (including a coherent introduction to strong sustainability)
- a resources page: need to provide for the person who says, “yes I agree with the concept, tell me how”
- a googlegroups so we can keep in contact with the wider community (follow the link to sign up), send email to st...@googlegroups.com
Neither the FAQ nor the resources have much content yet – please could you take a few minutes to add some material.
Cheers
SaM
Samuel Mann
Folks,
The draft Tertiary Education Strategy is out for consultation. It gives direction to NZ’s tertiary education for the next five years. The draft is weak on sustainability: it’s alluded to in the higher level statements but entirely missing in the directions for teaching and learning. As it stands, institutions will not see sustainability as an imperative, instead they’ll be driven entirely by productivity.
Here's my draft submission http://computingforsustainability.wordpress.com/2009/10/17/need-to-mobilise-submissions-for-sustainability-in-higher-education-nz/
(or in case it gets munched: http://tinyurl.com/yhx5ph7 )
Please:
1. Write something yourself. We have until 6th November to send submissions to tertiary.strategy@minedu.govt.nz.
2. Prompt whatever organisations you belong to to include sustainability in their submission (folks are usually grateful for help, so send some words for them to use). Don’t forget your professional organisations.
3. Forward this on to your other networks.
Cheers