Sustainability education seeks to help students think critically and creatively by using a diverse set of problem-solving, systems-thinking and implementation skills. Experiential learning activities, by making deliberate use of social and physical contexts beyond the lecture hall, directly engage students with the physical infrastructure and social influences that shape food systems and sustainability. Students are also exposed to diverse professional cultures in action, demonstrating the expectations and standards of conduct in the field or community setting.
The study of food systems and sustainability are both supported by and provide key contexts for experiential learning as they both depend on multi/inter- and trans-disciplinary cooperation, and address a complex set of factors and processes affecting people, businesses, and environments, while incorporating theoretical and methodological perspectives from a diversity of academic fields.
The Centre for Sustainable Food Systems Teaching & Learning team works in collaboration with instructors and students throughout UBC to develop open educational resources, including “case studies” that can be adapted to any discipline, by anyone at UBC or elsewhere. Each case study provides an experiential and place-based learning opportunity by exploring and understanding a food system asset at UBC. A food asset is a place where people can grow, prepare, share, buy, receive and learn about food or a resource, facility, service that strengthen the local food system.
Within these case studies, students and instructors can find a general introduction to a food system topic as well as inter-disciplinary pathways to explore and adapt to course learning outcomes and student fields of interest. The case studies are Open Education Resources (OER) under Creative Commons. Instructors, visit the Teaching Guide. Students and instructors, explore the Open Educational Resources tab to learn about benefits of OER.
