ALBERT

Notes: Purpose - Aims to determine how multiple play styles and use of "outside" materials can be successfully taken into account when designing user experiences in educational digital games. Design/methodology/approach - This research draws on over two dozen qualitative interviews and an open-ended survey of an additional 50 game players with a wide range of gameplay experience. Findings - Findings suggest that players have different skill sets, and different beliefs about what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable help in a variety of games. These findings are analyzed to argue for different ways to enhance the educational gaming experience for players. Research limitations/implications - As with all qualitative research, the relatively small sample size makes it difficult to draw broad generalizations from the data. However, the research does suggest that there are many ways to play games, that players use many items and information "outside" the game to help them play or enhance their experience, and such things can be fruitfully used to improve educational games. Practical implications - Designers of educational games should take into account the materials surrounding games, such as walkthroughs and codes, as ways to enhance the game and educational experience, rather than detract from them. Originality/value - Very little research has been done examining how players perceive items and information related to game play, as well as how they use such things. This research investigates that area and relates the knowledge to ways to improve educational games, and education.

Notes: Purpose - Reflection is key to learning from experience, including the experience of teaching. Aims to investigate whether critical reflection is as important in faculty development as it is in student learning. Design/methodology/approach - Offers the authors' experience with a service-learning program as a case study of the benefits and challenges of structuring faculty development around reflection. Findings - Reflection on their teaching both deepens faculty's understanding of their roles as educators and allows them to model those abilities and perspectives they want their students to develop. Further, collaborating with our students in the reflective process promotes a strong sense of learning community, positioning students and faculty alike as engaged in collaborative inquiry. Originality/value - Provides useful information on reflection as a means of development for faculty.

Notes: Purpose - A growing number of educators are turning to games for a model of next-generation learning environments. To date, there has been a lack of critical inquiry into what kind of learning occurs through game play, and how games get learned by their players. Aims to plug this gap Design/methodology/approach - This paper is a critical study of Viewtiful Joe, a cult-classic sidescrolling 2D fighting game for the Nintendo Gamecube. Noted for its difficulty, Viewtiful Joe is an interesting case because, as a fighting game, it embodies many of the principles fundamental to the medium, most of which are missed by educators illiterate regarding the medium. It shows the cognitive complexity that goes into a fighting game, as well as a cutting-edge example of how to manage that complexity. Far from button-mashing, success in Viewtiful Joe requires the player to learn to read the game symbol systems, understand Viewtiful Joe's capacities, and see potential interchanges between them. Findings - The paper analyzes how Viewtiful Joe is structured to balance flow and novelty, encourage players both to develop new skills and to master those they have. Finally, the paper examines how learning occurs through game play as an activity system, using player-generated FAQs to analyze how gamers represent their practice and suggest theories of expert game practice. Originality/value - Central to this paper is the argument that playing Viewtiful Joe is a performative act, where declarative knowledge, while clearly present for players, is secondary to players' ability to see and do in real-time.

Notes: Purpose - Seeks to argue that procedural literacy, of which programming is a part, is critically important for new media scholars and practitioners and that its opposite, procedural illiteracy, leaves one fundamentally unable to grapple with the essence of computational media. Design/methodology/approach - This paper looks at one of the earliest historical calls for universal procedural literacy, explores how games can serve as an ideal object around which to organize a procedural literacy curriculum, and describes a graduate course developed at Georgia Tech, Computation as an Expressive Medium, designed to be a first course in procedural literacy for new media practitioners. Findings - To achieve a broader and more profound procedural literacy will require developing an extended curriculum that starts in elementary school and continues through college. Encountering procedurality for the first time in a graduate level course is like a first language course in which students are asked to learn the grammar and vocabulary, read and comment on literature, and write short stories, all in one semester; one's own students would certainly agree that this is a challenging proposition. Originality/value - New media scholars and practitioners, including game designers and game studies scholars, may assume that the "mere" technical details of code can be safely bracketed out of the consideration of the artifact. Contrary to this view, it is argued that procedural literacy, of which programming is a part, is critically important for new media scholars and practitioners and that its opposite, procedural illiteracy, leaves one fundamentally unable to grapple with the essence of computational media.

Notes: Purpose - To review Peter Plantec's book Virtual Humans: A Build it Yourself Kit. Design/methodology/approach - This book is meant to be read by one willing to actively engage with the technologies that Plantec introduces. While the technology that enables virtual agents is stable, many agents are annoyingly non-humanlike in their interactions. Plantec encourages his readers to enter the world of virtual humans by providing the resources and coaching necessary to create a digital agent. He challenges the reader to throw off the notion that she is creating a technical implementation, a piece of software, and instead persuades her to approach the task as a scriptwriter would in creating a character. Findings - Only through the application of artifice can developers hope to create deeply engaging virtual humans with recognizable, engaging personalities. But once people start to believe in their virtual companions, where might it lead them as a society? Originality/value - Provides information about virtual humans.

Notes: Purpose - To illustrate the nature, range and variety of international networks linking individuals and institutions and reflecting the globalisation of higher education and desire of educators with common interests to shed their parochialism and communicate and collaborate on aspects of academic practice across national boundaries. Design/methodology/approach - The authors draw on their personal experiences of securing European Union funding for establishing a network of tertiary level educators and some targeted online research, to inform their review and analysis. Findings - Internationals networks in sphere of higher education can be either subject-specific or thematic in their aims and either global or restricted to one part of the world in their membership. Some are the outcome of activities at grass roots level while others are a response to policy initiatives from inter-governmental organisations. Practical implications - Although widespread, international networks in higher education are by no means unproblematic and questions inevitably arise as to their contribution and role in facilitating innovations in academic practice. The authors identify a number of issues concerning their modus operandi and roles that need to be addressed if they are to play a full part in contributing to academic practice in higher education. Originality/value - By highlighting the nature and contributions of international networks faculty are alerted to this mode of academic communication and collaboration and the steps that need to be taken if the full potential of such networks is be realised.

Notes: Purpose - The objective of the paper is to investigate computer processor cycles as an untapped resource in the field of education. Design/methodology/approach - Looks at how computer processor cycles could be potentially used in education. Findings - Finds that test and demographic data could be analyzed more deeply while the computer is supposedly idle. Originality/value - Provides interesting suggestions as to the use of computer processor cycles in education.

Notes: Purpose - To review what "quality" meant to universities historically and might mean in the future. Design/methodology/approach - Written as a keynote talk for The Australian Universities Quality Forum 2004, this paper problematizes "universities" and "quality" by reviewing the way changing communication modalities have changed the meaning of the two terms over time. Findings - After reviewing some of the literature forecasting alternative futures of universities, the paper settles on a preferred future in which all education, higher and lower, is driven by the logic, best practices, and evolving technologies of electronic games. Research limitations/implications - The paper reveals that researchers who compare word-based educational systems with electronic, interactive sound-and-image-based systems should use measures appropriate for the latter, rather than derived from the former. Practical implications - The paper shows that educators should take interactive electronic game methods more seriously in thinking about and planning for the futures of universities and their curricula. Originality/value - This paper provides a contribution to the growing emphasis on making learning interactive, engaging, effective, and fun.

Notes: Purpose - The increasing ability to move knowledge across political and geological borders changes the nature and function of a university in much the same way that unique biological niches are changed by the movement, intentional and accidental, of plants, animals and micro-organisms via improved transportation systems. Knowledge transfer, while often seen as positive, also, as in the bio/physical universe, has negative consequences, including cultural changes, merging or closing institutions with a concomitant loss in intellectual diversity. As with traditional ecologies, little can be done to restore or prevent further cultural integration. How this will affect individual institutions is not clear, nor are the potential response options visible. The purpose of this editorial is to examine this situation. Design/methodology/approach - This editorial points out the changes which are occurring in universities as a consequence of increased mobility of ideas across political and geographically determined borders and across the walls of the Ivory Tower. It raises concerns for the university and seeks to understand what responses might be appropriate. Findings - This editorial finds that the university, today, is radically altered and most faculty need to step outside of the Ivory Tower and see that it has, indeed, changed. Originality/value - The editorial speaks to administrators and policy analysts who must make decisions on the potential survival and direction of universities in an increasingly global society.

Notes: Purpose - The Master of Business Administration (MBA) is becoming increasingly publicly criticised by the likes of Mintzberg and other management writers. Much of their criticism is based on personal experience and opinion rather than any systematic research, and ready-made solutions are proposed as alternatives. This paper (and its counterpart) are the result of a year of research into the future of the MBA. Its purpose is to question whether its current market decline is terminal or if indeed it can be resurrected. Design/methodology/approach - A year-long future study was undertaken at Cranfield School of Management combining a range of traditional research methods and samples including literature review, surveys of alumni, academics and futurists, interviews with recruiters and human resources (HR) managers, a Delphi study with international participants, and interviews and a focus group with business leaders. The results were then analysed and combined to form the pictures developed in this article and its counterpart. Findings - The MBA is positioned here as a qualification that is plagued by market confusion as to what it actually represents and what its value is. A pre-emptive post-mortem is carried out into the future of the MBA and the future senior manager/leader, which highlights the gap between research and practice, league tables, e-learning and attempts at internationalisation as some of the causes of the current malaise. The paper also looks at how some business schools are starting to address these issues in order to maintain the MBA as a valued qualification in the management marketplace. Originality/value - This paper provides a comparison of MBA offerings and potential substitutes. It opens the arena of senior management education for debate by charting the future decline of the MBA, challenging business schools to make changes or witness the death of their cash-cow.

Notes: Purpose - To present a model of innovative change in higher education based on research into the factors behind the performance of highly creative historical communities. Design/methodology/approach - The article diagnoses current pressures under which academia is laboring, explains the hothouse effect, and proposes solutions based on the hothouse effect model. Findings - The article proposes restructuring of discipline-based learning, developing new methods of strategic planning, adopting new assumptions about the social role of higher education, exploring modes of perception and cognition that are critical to education, and using digital technology to create learning communities and facilitate accelerated learning models. The model of organizational change emphasizes modest and numerous grass-roots initiatives as the most efficient generator of broad cultural change. Research limitations/implications - The aim is to stimulate pilot initiatives and broad dialog on the issues raised. The research points the way to further work in the dynamics of creativity, the nature of pedagogy, and the future role of the university. Practical implications - Numerous methods are presented for strengthening the relationship of faculty and administration, utilizing technology to create learning communities and transform pedagogy, stimulating faculty collaboration, and planning for the future. Originality/value - This paper provides many fresh and practical ideas useful at an individual, department, or institutional level. The goal is not a specific type of institution or mode of operation. Instead, it the model is flexible and adaptable to creative initiatives of any scope. Ultimately, this article can contribute to revitalizing the ongoing dialog about higher education's future.

Notes: Purpose - To ascertain how scholarship will be impacted by digital media. Design/methodology/approach - This paper breaks down the vocation of scholarship into subsidiary tasks. It examines how their relative importance has changed in the modern era. Finally, it looks at which tasks will be facilitated or complicated by digital media, particularly by the internet. Findings - The tasks of collecting and storing information have been made far faster and easier by digital media. Other tasks such as sorting, evaluating and assessing the implications of information have, however, become more difficult. In consequence, theory has become far more important. Research limitations/implications - The extrapolations in this paper are about broad trends, which may manifest themselves in a variety of ways. Practical implications - In the future, one can expect scholarship to deal less with uncovering new information. Instead, scholars will have to devote more time and effort to ascertaining why information is important. Scholars will be expected to articulate not only their methods but also their purposes. Originality/value - This paper provides useful information on how scholarship will be impacted by digital media.

Notes: Purpose - To provide a past, current and future perspective of transnational higher education for academics and managers engaged in this area of education provision, to heighten awareness of the current trends and issues involved. Design/methodology/approach - An Australian/Hong Kong case study and reference to current literature are used to highlight the main issues concerning this rapidly expanding phenomenon in the provision of higher education. Findings - Identifies and discusses the main issues for consideration when planning new transnational activities, including the need for strategic approaches and risk management. Research limitations/implications - The paper focuses on Australia and the Asian region, although material related to the UK and the USA is included in some sections. Whether a country is the provider or the receiver of transnational education, the issues raised will be relevant. Practical implications - This paper provides a very useful source of information for those currently involved in or planning to become involved in a transnational higher education activity. Originality/value - This paper is timely in that it addresses the recent proliferation of transnational higher education activities by considering the past and present, as well as providing discussion of potential future directions.

Notes: Purpose - Building on part 1 of this series, this paper aims to look at alternative ways in which business schools can develop the future managers and leaders needed by organisations. It draws attention to an emerging gap in the marketplace and suggests one possible model for addressing it. Design/methodology/approach - A year-long future study was undertaken at Cranfield School of Management combining a range of traditional research methods and samples including literature review, surveys of alumni, academics and futurists, interviews with recruiters and human resource (HR) managers, a Delphi study with international participants, and interviews and a focus group with business leaders. The results were then analysed and combined to form the pictures developed in this article and its counterpart. Findings - Following on from Part 1, this paper proposes a new "élite" qualification for senior managers and leaders to replace the Master of Business Administration (MBA) in the marketplace. This would allow the MBA to become the graduate conversion course in business necessary as an entry point into management. The Master's in Business Leadership (MBL) focuses on the individual rather than curriculum, and is a personal development journey rather than a functional knowledge-based experience, as there is an assumption that this knowledge base is already there prior to the course being undertaken. This paper concludes with a comparative analysis of the MBA, the MBL and the International Master's in Practising Management which Mintzberg has proferred as his alternative to the MBA. Originality/value - This paper provides a comparison of MBA offerings and potential substitutes. It also suggests a new curriculum for senior management education to prepare people for leadership in the future, while repositioning the MBA as a mass graduate conversion programme. By putting forward one possible way forward in the management education market, this paper hopes to open discussion for further development of the international management education sector.

Notes: Purpose - This paper aims to alert readers to issues that may be overlooked in assessing fundamental changes in the post-secondary arena. Design/methodology/approach - Posits that the internet changes the nature of the university as fundamentally as one saw when the Bible was published on the movable type press. Findings - Open access courses and journals put knowledge into the Socratic Agora, changing the roles of faculty as both educators and researchers. Since knowledge is available with the click of a mouse, the linear Kindergarten to Bachelor's curriculum has been deconstructed and integrated with work and play since age is not a barrier to access. Also, few may opt for a hand-crafted, packaged, on-campus experience. As the current faculty, cyber immigrants, retires, the emerging cyber natives will form self-organizing communities of interest/practice and the function of the university must be reinvented. Originality/value - The paper is of value to administrators, policy analysts, researchers in the arena of education, funding agencies, foundations and politicians involved with educational change.

Notes: Purpose - To examine and discuss the central features of institutional change and to compare it with organizational change. Design/methodology/approach - Use interviews with managers to highlight key issues. Findings - Results are presented of interviews with managers exploring changes that have for decades been transforming business, government, and other institutions into "organic" systems for the knowledge age. Institutional change differs from organizational change by focusing on the higher-order unspoken social rules that govern the structure of institutions in common. The study evaluated trends driving this transformation, the obstacles blocking it, and the likely timetable of implementation. Originality/value - Concludes that three central features mark the general direction of institutional evolution: "e-organizations" operating in real time, "self-organizing systems" of self-managed teams, and "stakeholder collaboration" to unify diverse interests into a more powerful enterprise.

Notes: Purpose - Seeks to explores the idea of career-focused, vocational higher education and give an overview of the current offerings of degrees, programs and majors that focus on games, simulations and interactive media. Design/methodology/approach - Provides an overview of educational courses supplied by various institutions which are capitalising on student and industry demand by offering officially accredited degrees in the study of games. Findings - Students benefit most from the developing educational trend, and it makes economic sense for institutions to update their offerings to allow pedagogy to improve as the concept of what is involved in higher education expands. Originality/value - Explores specifically how institutions are capitalizing on student and industry demand by offering officially accredited degrees in the study of games.

Notes: Purpose - This essay aims to present role of education and its response to institutional change. Design/methodology/approach - Explores both a shift in its purpose and its role in a wired/global environment. The principal focus is on the traditional post-secondary education but considers changes that are occurring as society moves to lifelong learning. It challenges the current model of change of the institutions as being cosmetic and only delaying a profound shift in the form, direction and purpose of education, as an institution. Findings - While changes are occurring within The Academy, most academics who are working in the arena of e-learning are worrying about changes at the micro level. Most of the power of institutional change has been given up by the faculty in exchange for their sinecure. While administrators are concerned about fiscal solvency, the faculty has expectations that in the end, after the storm has passed, the landscape will not be the same. Originality/value - Provides an overview of the role of education and its response to institutional change.

Notes: Purpose - Proposes to argue that current assumptions about media effects in videogames fail to take into account the variety of messages and potential effects embedded in games. Design/methodology/approach - A survey of the game "Grand Theft Auto III" and a short, illustrative, review of "videogames as learning" perspectives. Findings - Even a game such as "Grand Theft Auto III", pilloried for its anti-social messages and assumed negative behavioral effects, reveals a significant number of positive social messages. Research limitations/implications - This paper only illustrates the conflicting nature of media effects assumptions - both positive and negative. It does not attempt to provide an exhaustive review of or context for either the subject-matter or the research area. Practical implications - The perspective presented provides a warning to educators intent on assuming positive learning benefits (effects) of the videogame medium just as it argues against a simple reading of videogames as negative media by groups seeking to censor games. Originality/value - This is the first paper to identify the underlying assumptions of both the "videogames as learning" and the "videogames as social danger" camps as both sharing the same conceptual framework.

Notes: Purpose - Seeks to exemplify and discuss how students' use of weblogs can prepare them for a networked world where writing has consequences outside grades. Design/methodology/approach - Experiences using weblogs with university students are critically discussed with reference to related theoretical and practice-based work. Findings - While many students were wary at first, the experience of writing in public provided an important learning opportunity, and many of the most skeptical became enthusiastic and proficient webloggers during the course of the semester. Research limitations/implications - The empirical data are from a single course and therefore limited. Practical implications - Students should practice writing in public and on the network, yet ethical issues must be considered. Originality/value - An increasing number of teachers and professors are using weblogs with students. In addition to a critical discussion of the ethics and pedagogical value of weblogging, this paper gives educators specific advice on how to encourage students to use their weblogs actively and productively.

Notes: Purpose - To offer seven guides to institutional change. Design/methodology/approach - The Director of the Office of Force Transformation draws on his experience in transforming the US military to offer seven guides to institutional change. Findings - The seven guides are as follows: some major changes are inevitable and should be noted as such; having a good forecast ahead of others is of little use if they are not ready to acknowledge it; future trends must rely on data-free research to some extent; it is possible to use the media for your purposes by focusing on pivotal ideas they like to promulgate; to change institutions requires changing their culture, which in turn requires changing carefully selected values and symbols; transformation demands not only creative imagination but the hard work of implementation; and look for those crucial tipping points when achieving a critical mass can swing dramatic changes quickly. Originality/value - Offers an experience-based insight into the world of organizational transformation.

Notes: Purpose - Aims to review institutional change in health care and to look for opportunities in what the author sees as a coming crisis. Design/methodology/approach - A consultant on health-care systems reviews the forces driving transformation in medicine, including new technologies, telemedicine, and prevention. Findings - Finds forces driving transformation in medicine limited in addressing the crisis of spiraling cost and mediocre, overly complex treatment. Originality/value - Concludes that a dramatic shift in perspective is coming as baby boomers are forced to face the inevitability of death in positive terms.

Notes: Purpose - To provide a futures-oriented perspective on institutional change. Design/methodology/approach - Presents methods and case studies of attempts to engage in institutional change. An international authority on future studies draws on his field to provide a futures-oriented perspective on institutional change. This perspective includes the use of futures tools, strategy, capacity building, the central role of memes, emergence of self-organization, and the underlying role of meaning and symbols. Five case studies are used to illustrate these principles. Findings - One company was struggling over its governing choice of institutional metaphor: the tortoise versus the hare. Another was caught up in treating hackers as good versus evil, but realized that they needed new concepts to grasp the frontier of cyberspace. A third case involved moving from developing a monolithic plan to forming self-organizing groups of stakeholders that actually created a collective new vision. A city council was able to recognize the need to shift toward an innovative organizational structure. The final case challenged a group of mayors to adopt a "rainforest" model of cities that is inclusive, green, human-centered. Originality/value - Mapping, understanding and transforming the "myths" discussed in this paper are crucial for the move from individual to organization to institutional change.

Notes: Purpose - To describe examples of institutional change to help others appreciate the difficult but crucial nature of this process. Design/methodology/approach - A seasoned consultant describes, using frank, first-hand account, examples of institutional change. Findings - Shows how institutional change is often forced on organizations by shifting external forces that render old niches obsolete. Also shows the difficulty in mobilizing to confront the need for serious change, and how leadership transitions are often a central part of the change process. Originality/value - The author points to three main lessons from this case study. Institutional change may be arduous, but it can also leave people feeling amazed at how long they tolerated the old system. The author also notes that institutional change is a natural process, proceeding with a life all its own. The author concludes with some thoughts on how to initiate this process when an organization appears ready.

Notes: Purpose - Proposes to look at how many designers and researchers have become interested in how videogames can serve as forms of cultural expression beyond entertainment alone. Design/methodology/approach - The study is based on views from the videogame industry and the educational system. Findings - This article suggests that both the videogame industry and the compulsory educational system are engaged in commensurate crises. The videogame industry is creatively rich but risk-averse, motivated primarily by wealth and reinforced by its own success. The education establishment is bureaucratic and self-effacing, endorsing the production of complacency over challenge. With videogames and education caught in similar ruts, to support change in one means endorsing a revolution in the other. Originality/value - Compares the videogame industry with the educational establishment and suggests ways in which the videogame industry can assist education.

Notes: Purpose - The function of college degrees in general, and PhDs, in particular, seems increasingly, to serve as a measure of certification and, in some instances, control for entrance into a profession. Advanced degrees in the humanities seem to have lost credence outside of academic circles as hard scientists have assumed the bully pulpit on many issues once the domain of the philosophers, as students, increasingly, question the rhetoric of "The Academy" (and some in the private sector) promoting broad liberal studies, a, especially, as less of the cost is provided by public funds. The entire post secondary experience is becoming increasingly questionable when analysis shows, that for the foreseeable future, less than 30 percent of US jobs really require a college degree. The facts are that in the USA over 44 percent of faculty are adjuncts, often with less than a PhD, and less than 40 percent of current positions are tenure track. This editorial aims to alert readers to underlying trends which are reshaping the roll of the academic both within The Academy and the world at large. It may suggest the need to bring rhetoric of the past in line with the reality of the present/future and change the model of post secondary education. Design/methodology/approach - Looks at the area of the PhD in the humanities in the academic world. Findings - Administrators and policy analysts need to assess the changing roll of faculty and the implications for both the fiscal and structural soundness of the university in the digital age as well as its roll and position within the larger society. Originality/value - Provides information that is useful to administrators and policy analysts.

Notes: Purpose - The rapid rise of corporate universities, online degree programs, and the explosive growth in executive education all serve as signals to universities that the concept of a learning organization continues to gain momentum in the business community. This paper has the objective of describing a new model for academic/industry partnerships that utilizes traditional professional aspects of higher education (research, teaching, and consulting) to assist individual businesses in their quest to build a sustainable competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach - The paper first describes the model, discusses implications for business and the academy and then describes its application in an organization. Findings - The educonsulting (EC) model gives businesses a method linking their investment in education programs to their business strategy, in turn providing a potentially greater return on the investment in human capital development. In addition, the model provides a school of business with a systemic means of professionally developing its faculty and improving its stakeholder relationships. Originality/value - The EC model described in this paper provides a blueprint for innovative colleges of business and their business partners to link individual development and organizational development to achieve their respective strategic goals.

Notes: Purpose - To analyze the extent of, and the reasons for, institutional change in the private corporation. Design/methodology/approach - The paper identifies seven "new rules of corporate conduct" which, in total, represent a radical change in the social contract between society and the corporation. It then speculates about future changes in corporate purpose and governance. Findings - A central feature of the new corporate charter is that it is likely to entail a redefinition of the relationship between profit and corporate purpose. The purpose is service to society (i.e. serving social needs), while profit provides the means, motive and measure. Originality/value - This paper provides the basis and rationale for moving the corporation from "profit-as-purpose" to "service-as-purpose" as the organizing principle for its strategies, values and actions.

Notes: Purpose - Seeks to outline the impact of the information society on the institutional changes taking place in the public sector. Design/methodology/approach - A veteran of government outlines the impact of the information society on the institutional changes taking place in the public sector. Drawing on his extensive experience and the literature, he provides creative insights into the themes of this special issue. Findings - E-government may prove useful in managing routine tasks, he agrees, but the highly complex, interpersonal nature of government places severe limits on the extent to which public work can be automated. With government outsourcing much of its work to private firms, and corporations required to serve the public interest, there is also a marked overlap of the public versus private domains. The old hierarchies of the past are being fragmented by information systems and the need to involve people in managing complexity, leading to "uncentralized" systems in which initiative and creativity must be exercised at all levels. And the mismatch between geographic boundaries and the criss-crossing nature of real problems creates confusion over how governments should be organized. Originality/value - All of these trends, the author notes, pose paradoxes that mark the distinctive features of government today.

Notes: Purpose - Institutions of higher education (IHE) should be leaders for demonstrating sustainable building, landscaping, and operational practices. IHEs intensely use resources and are nearly microcosms of the larger world. Yet, relatively few IHEs have assumed a strong leadership role by pursuing sustainability in a comprehensive manner. In particular, few examples exist where top administrators have made sustainability a high-profile, campus-wide priority. In the absence of strong administrative leadership, proponents of sustainability need to develop strategies that do not assume a top-down approach. Design/methodology/approach - This article examines the institutional structures and demands at many IHEs that make it unlikely that top administrators will make sustainability a priority. It also examines why supporters of sustainability will have to contend with faculty, staff, and students who may not see sustainability as an important issue or who must engage in sustainability efforts within the constraints of other institutional demands. Findings - The authors present two overarching strategies for supporters of sustainability. First, they look for ways to push sustainability on to the IHE's "action agenda". Second, they work to implement sustainability incrementally through discrete projects. Originality/value - The authors offer specific recommendations for overcoming barriers to participation, pushing sustainability on to an IHE's action agenda, and keeping the process of incremental implementation moving forward.

Notes: Purpose - This study of environment management systems implementation in Swedish universities contributes to the dialogue about the role of management systems as tools in developing sustainability in higher education. Design/methodology/approach - The empirical study is based on Government directives that make environmental management systems implementation compulsory for all public organisations in Sweden, annual environmental reports of Swedish universities for the years 1997-2002, their internet home pages, and a survey. Findings - Many universities focus only on direct environmental aspects like paper use and waste handling, even though the main tasks of the universities, namely education, research and co-operation with the surrounding society, that is the indirect aspects, are likely to have a considerable environmental impact. The organisation of the environmental work and the placement of the environmental coordinator also vary. Two main patterns appear; the coordinator has a function in the service department or an administrative function in the president's office. The goal of certification increases the likelihood of the environmental coordinator being placed in the president's office. Originality/value - The aim is to increase the understanding of why and how a concept that was first introduced in industry is applied to institutions of higher education.

Notes: Purpose - Greek pedagogical students' attitudes towards environmental education in Greece are very important as these students represent future teachers who will affect the success of environmental education in schools. Therefore, the identification of their views will give us the potentiality to modify the curricula of pedagogical departments accordingly. Design/methodology/approach - The use of a questionnaire was chosen as the most suitable method to review and record pedagogical students' attitudes towards environmental education. Findings - The results of this study show that pedagogical students have not only realized the importance of environmental education in primary education but have also been sensitized to the environment and the issues involved in this. Attending practical courses on the environment seems to help towards this sensitivity. Originality/value - Results of this research show that an attempt should be made to develop education for sustainability in universities through an interdisciplinary approach, as universities bear a great responsibility in developing people's interest in the environment by training them to assess the impact of, and find solutions to, environmental problems and by producing well-trained professionals who will promote and support sustainable development.

Notes: Purpose - Environmental assessment (EA) is a proactive planning tool designed to consider the ecological, cultural, socio-political and economic impacts of potential projects, making it a major tool for achieving sustainable development. Meaningful EA requires a bridging of the natural sciences with the social sciences to broaden understanding of the overall environmental impacts of development projects on humans, the natural environment and other organisms. As a result of this complexity, education and training needs are great. The purpose of this paper was to consider EA educational opportunities at Canadian universities and to test a model for the analysis of the state of such education. Design/methodology/approach - The research design used a qualitative interactive approach, including a survey of 2001 university course calendars, participant observation and semi-structured interviews. Findings - Results indicate that the number of universities offering EA courses has tripled to 40 since the mid-1980?s. While this is a positive finding, data illustrate that the bulk of the courses offered are survey-oriented and introductory in nature, with little opportunity to specialize. This cursory approach is exacerbated by a lack of teaching resources and instructor development. Despite the nature of the courses offered, many professors encourage critical thinking and use innovative teaching techniques, including role-playing, to promote self-reflection. In fact, the interdisciplinary approach to the curricula and the promotion of critical thinking outside disciplinary boundaries are two strengths of current EA programming. Originality/value - In light of this state of formal EA education in Canada, more research and international level dialogue are warranted.

Notes: Purpose - In 1997, the University of British Columbia (UBC) adopted a sustainable development policy stating that the campus should adhere to sustainable practices in all of its actions and mandates and that all students who attend UBC will be educated about sustainability. The purpose of the paper is to consider how far UBC has moved in the last six years in the direction of sustainability education, what has been accomplished, what lessons have been learned and what challenges lie ahead. Design/methodology/approach - This paper is a collaborative inquiry created by a number of faculty, staff and one doctoral student working on sustainability education issues at UBC. Findings - The shift to sustainability involves: a fundamental thinking-through of basic issues about the role of the university in society, creating a strong relationship between sustainability principles and the core goals of the university. It also will require a reworking of the design and operation of institutional reward systems, creating an appropriate linkage between the operational and academic functions of the university, and finding an appropriate mix of disciplinarity and interdisciplinarity. The collaborative writing process helped to bring people together to reflect on the projects of the past and consider the plans for the future. Originality/value - The intention of the paper is to summarize the sustainability education initiatives at UBC, and address barriers and pathways to creating sustainability education programs at the university level. The collaborative stories aim to help other individuals and groups implement sustainability in higher education and contribute to a process of institutional learning for sustainability.

Notes: Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the link between sustainability education and outdoor education and to encourage outdoor recreation educators to evaluate their programs with regard to sustainability and sustainable living. Design/methodology/approach - This paper starts by presenting several factors that currently hinder the delivery of sustainability education in outdoor recreation training programs. It then turns to a presentation of Lefebvre's sustainability education framework, which offers a helpful structure for integrating sustainability education into outdoor recreation academic curricula. Findings - Although there are programs that have successfully implemented sustainability training into their curricula, there are many factors that serve to hinder the education of outdoor recreation students in the philosophy and techniques of sustainability and sustainable living. No doubt these impediments pose critical challenges to those offering academic training programs. These challenges must be identified, met and overcome if the profession is to contribute, as it should, not only to local, national and global sustainable outdoor recreation, but also to sustainable living in general. Originality/value - It is hoped that this paper will encourage educators of post-secondary outdoor recreation to better equip their students to introduce and teach others with respect to sustainable living values and practices.

Notes: Purpose - To describe how the teaching and learning approach of a new MBA distance learning program helps to produce promoters and ecopreneurs of sustainable development and entrepreneurship. Design/methodology/approach - The chosen MBA program is analyzed based on the principles of time flexibility, promotion of initiative, team capability, staff development and transfer to practice. Findings - Provides information about how a study program can bring the team capability and initiative of future ecopreneurs as well as staff learning forward. Recognises the need to consider using links to industry and government to transfer sustainable ideas to practice. Research limitations/implications - The article illustrates concentrated knowledge on a case study and does not compare different distance-learning programs or other educational programs in these areas. Practical implications - A very useful source of information for target groups of MBA studies, like graduate students or employed people, as well as designers of courses of study implying sustainability management and entrepreneurship. This teaching and learning approach can be adapted to other educational settings at a postgraduate level to train sustainable leaders for the future. Originality/value - This paper fills the gap to survey further education programs which generate and transmit knowledge to future ecopreneurs.

Notes: Purpose - To present the School for Field Studies-Centre for Coastal Studies (SFS-CCS) study abroad Mexico program, and consider its relative success as a sustainable development education program. Design/methodology/approach - The SFS-CCS academic model and results of its implementation are presented. Program success is discussed by applying sustainable development education criteria found in the literature, and by sharing feedback from SFS-CCS students, affiliates and clients. Examples of two student projects are also presented to consider program success. Findings - The SFS-CCS academic model structure, which includes a five-year research plan, an interdisciplinary and case study approach, and integration of client needs and community projects, have helped the school meet its sustainable development education goals. Student research projects have also resulted in positive sustainable development outcomes for the surrounding community of Puerto San Carlos. Practical implications - A description of the components of the academic model and recommendations made related to create similarly effective models are provided for study abroad and other sustainable development education institutions. Originality/value - This paper recognizes how a study abroad program can contribute knowledge and lessons learned as part of the larger, global dialogue of how to provide successful sustainable development education.

Notes: Purpose - To apply the concepts of lean and sustainability to higher education. Design/methodology/approach - A questionnaire was developed, administered to 18 public and private universities and analyzed. Findings - The focus in higher education is now on cost reduction or budget containment initiatives. Although these initiatives were not implemented with the knowledge that they were implementing "lean" practices, their application has often reduced waste, improved operational efficiency, and contributed to sustainability. Research limitations/implications - This is a preliminary study with a sample size of 18 universities in the northeastern United States. Future research should include more universities in the United States as well as in other countries. Practical implications - The participating universities in this study shared their beliefs about how "lean" thinking can contribute to the sustainability of higher education. Other universities can "learn from their lessons". Originality/value - Very little past research, except in the area of green marketing, has focused on lean sustainability concepts in higher education.

Notes: Purpose - To provide an overview of how environmental management systems (EMSs) are becoming sporadically employed within higher educational institutions. Design/methodology/approach - An overview of international developments in sustainable education and within UK universities. Focuses specifically on the University of Glamorgan, Wales. Findings - EMSs have been historically perceived as of little importance within most of the UK higher educational sector. Documents how the University of Glamorgan, Wales became the first university in the UK to have all of its operations accredited to ISO 14001. Originality/value - Provides a summary of a higher education institution's path to ISO 14001 accreditation.

Notes: Purpose - To explore how universities can adopt sustainability practices that have proven to be successful in business. Design/methodology/approach - Draws on several sources of theory (internationally published literatures in business, sustainability, and education) and practice (primarily US business and university practice) to develop a framework. Findings - Two seemingly divergent trends have created a unique opportunity for universities to significantly improve their environmental performance: the increasing importance to businesses of managing the natural environment and the growing awareness that universities cannot continue to isolate themselves from the community in which they are embedded. The first of these trends has caused a previously untapped source of ideas to become energized into thinking about how to move toward a more sustainable world. The second trend has caused a previously "introspective-to-a-fault" institution to look beyond itself for ways of thinking and acting. Practical implications - The intersection of the two trends is a powerful place, where new and successful approaches to managing the natural environment, albeit from what might be thought of as a non-traditional source, can be absorbed by an institution that has significant environmental impact and an even more significant responsibility to future generations. Originality/value - Provides a focus on the huge opportunities for applying some of the environmental lessons learnt by business to higher education.

Notes: Purpose - To outline the themes, topics and material used in a new course, Global business and sustainability, for business educators interested in integrating this emergingparadigm into their courses. Design/methodology/approach - The structure, design and reference materials for the Global business and sustainability course are reviewed. Specific challenges in designing the course are discussed. Recommendations are provided on how key frameworks developed for this course can aid in the delivery of a business course integrating sustainability concepts. Findings - Compared to a more traditional business course, in a business course integrating sustainability concepts there is greater need for delineating the relationships between institutional, industry and corporate level factors linked to sustainability issues. However, a business course developed around the principles of sustainability is also similar to any other course in the business curriculum in that it needs to demonstrate the link between competitive actions and outcomes. Finally, sustainable development and sustainability are concepts that, in principle, should appeal and apply across cultural and national boundaries. Practical implications - A useful source of information for business educators planning to integrate sustainability issues and concepts into their courses. Originality/value - This paper addresses an important emerging paradigm and offers practical advice on how to incorporate this paradigm into business curriculum.

Notes: Purpose - To present the challenge of sustainable development, the way in which technology can address that challenge and the task of engineering education to train engineers for it. Design/methodology/approach - The paper describes briefly the history of the environmental and sustainability discourse in The Netherlands, as a densely populated country. It argues that technology should play a major role in SD, but that technological innovation is not enough. Technological systems renewal is a transdisciplinary activity involving relevant stakeholders and disciplines. "Needs" is the basic starting-point to innovate new systems of provision. The paper reviews relevant literature regarding future orientation of technology development. Based on it, goals for training of engineers are developed. Findings - The engineer has to meet a threefold challenge: providing new creative approaches on the one hand, and setting up and executing R&D programs that produce results, on the other; cooperating with other disciplines and lay stakeholders, on the one hand, and guarding disciplinary quality, on the other; bridging moralism and strategic pragmatism. Research limitations/implications - The paper is an introduction, i.e. it sketches the issues without dealing with them in detail. Practical implications - The paper draws in broad lines a road-map for the future of engineering education and sustainable development. The paper is a useful source for those engineering institutions that are formulating a strategy to introduce sustainable development. Originality/value - The paper goes beyond environmental engineering, not by just adding social and economic issues, but by developing an integrated framework for academic training of engineers.

Notes: Purpose - The paper seeks to examine the latest stage in a process of change aimed at introducing concepts of sustainable development into the activities of the Department of Engineering at Cambridge University, UK. Design/methodology/approach - The rationale behind defining the skills which future engineers require is discussed and vehicles for change at both undergraduate and postgraduate level are described. Reflections on the paradigms and pedagogy of teaching sustainable development issues to engineers are offered, as well as notes on barriers to progress which have been encountered. Findings - The paper observes that the ability to effectively initiate a change process is a vital skill which must be formally developed in those engineers wishing to seek sustainable solutions from within the organisations for which they will work. Lessons are drawn about managing a change process within a large academic department, so that concepts of sustainable development can be effectively introduced across all areas of the engineering curriculum. Practical implications - A new pedagogy for dealing with changes from the quantitative to the qualitative is required, as the paper questions where the education balance should lie between providing access to technological knowledge which can be applied to designing hard solutions, and training engineers to rethink their fundamental attitudes towards a broader, multiple perspective approach in which problem formulation and context setting play a vital role in reaching consensual solutions. Originality/value - The paper reviews previously recognised key themes for engineering education for sustainable development, and proposes three further essential ingredients relating to an engineer's ability to engage in problem definition, manage change in organisations, and understand the nature of technical and business innovations.

Notes: Purpose - To present results from a research project on postgraduate and undergraduate students' learning about environmental issues in education. Design/methodology/approach - Three cases were carried out with civil engineering students, biology students and postgraduate students. Discussions in classroom were tape-recorded, as well as discussions while working with assignments, and interviews were carried out. Findings - Shows how differently environmental issues can be interpreted, i.e. scientifically, existentially and politically, and the way values and emotions become an aspect of the learning process and reveal the students' difficulties in differentiating between values and descriptions of phenomena. This is analysed and explained in relation to the students' various projects that come into conflict in the educational setting. Practical implications - The paper can be of use to those who are engaged in environmental education and raises questions regarding the content of today's environmental education. Originality/value - Gives an insight into students' learning processes and experiences in environmental education and the difficulties they can experience when studying such a subject.

Notes: Purpose - Owing to its complexity, sustainable development cannot be simply integrated as a supplementary course within the engineers' curricula. The first point of this paper aims to focalise on how to reflect pedagogically. After dealing with these questions, a tool that can evaluate the student's understanding of sustainable development concepts will be presented. Design/methodology/approach - The analysis of a student's sustainability comprehension, based on cognitive maps, has been developed. The students are asked to write and connect by arrows all the terms that they associate with the concept of sustainable development. The assessment of the aforementioned cognitive maps is based on an approach via semantic category. Findings - This study shows that the students' perception of sustainable development before the training seems mainly focalised on environmental and economical aspects. After the SD course, an increase in the number of words quoted is noted for each category (social and cultural aspects; the stakeholders, the principles of sustainable development and the allusions to complexity, temporal and spatial dimensions). Their vision seems richer and wider. The training seemed useful to help the students who did not associate sustainable development with diverse dimension to improve this perception. Research limitations/implications - To reduce the length of the elaboration of the maps, there is no preliminary training for the construction of maps. To simplify this elaboration, only one type of arrows is used to connect words. To minimise the time of analysis of the maps, the relevance of the relations made between the words is not verified. Besides, the classification of words within the semantic categories implies a certain level of subjectivity. Practical implications - This cognitive map method can be a useful tool to improve learning in quantitative terms but also in qualitative terms. Identifying knowledge gaps and misunderstood ideas allows the improvement in the training. Originality/value - This study presents a new method that can be used to evaluate the impact of training sessions on students. Another advantage is to analyse how the students' knowledge is interconnected. This seems particularly interesting because the study of this transdisciplinary concept also necessitates an integrated vision.

Notes: Purpose - While a number of universities in Australia have embraced concepts such as project/problem-based learning and design of innovative learning environments for engineering education, there has been a lack of national guidance on including sustainability as a "critical literacy" into all engineering streams. This paper was presented at the 2004 International Conference on Engineering Education in Sustainable Development (EESD) in Barcelona, Spain, outlining a current initiative that is seeking to address the "critical literacy" dilemma. Design/methodology/approach - The paper presents the positive steps taken by Australia's peak engineering body, the Institution of Engineers Australia (EA), in considering accreditation requirements for university engineering courses and its responsibility to ensure the inclusion of sustainability education material. It then describes a current initiative called the "Engineering Sustainable Solutions Program - Critical Literacies for Engineers Portfolio" (ESSP-CL), which is being developed by The Natural Edge Project (TNEP) in partnership with EA and Unesco. Findings - Content for the module was gathered from around the world, drawing on research from the publication The Natural Advantage of Nations: Business Opportunities, Innovation, and Governance in the Twenty-first Century. Parts of the first draft of the ESSP-CL have been trialled at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia with first year environmental engineering students, in May 2004. Further trials are now proceeding with a number of other universities and organisations nationally and internationally. Practical implications - It is intended that ESSP-CL will be a valuable resource to universities, professional development activities or other education facilities nationally and internationally. Originality/value - This paper fulfils an identified information/resources need.

Notes: Purpose - This paper describes a set of recommendations that will aid universities planning to create sustainability education programs. These recommendations are not specific to curriculum or programs but are instead recommendations for academic institutions considering a shift towards "sustainability education" in the broadest sense. The purpose of this research was to consider the possible directions for the future of sustainability education at the university level. Design/methodology/approach - Through a series of workshops using a "value focused thinking" framework, a small team of researchers engaged a large number of stakeholders in a dialogue about sustainability education at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada. Recommendations were compiled from workshop data as well as data from 30 interviews of participants connected with decision-making and sustainability at UBC. Findings - The recommendations include infusing sustainability into all university decisions, promoting and practicing collaboration and transdisciplinarity and focusing on personal and social sustainability. Other recommendations included an integration of university plans, decision-making structures and evaluative measures and the integration of the research, service and teaching components of the university. There is a need for members of the university community to create space for reflection and pedagogical transformation. Originality/value - The intention of the paper is to outline the details of a participatory workshop that uses value-focused thinking in order to engage university faculty and administration in a dialogue about sustainability education. Students, faculty and staff working towards sustainability education will be able to adapt the workshop to their own institutions.

Notes: Purpose - To show the key points of a development education program for engineering studies fitted within the framework of the human development paradigm. Design/methodology/approach - The bases of the concept of technology for human development are presented, and the relationship with development education analysed. Special attention is dedicated to the role of case studies in engineering courses. After that, the development education program pushed by the Civil Engineering School of Barcelona and Engineering without Borders is explained, focusing on two major contributions: two optional courses about international aid and development and nine classroom case studies about different technologies used in real co-operation projects. Findings - This work provides a conceptual basis for incorporating development education into engineering studies, a general overview of different activities promoted in Spanish technical universities and practical information about optional courses and classroom case studies. Research limitations/implications - The proposal is based on the experience in Spanish engineering curricula (mostly in five-year degrees). Some of the topics covered by the courses and the case studies can be better adapted at postgraduate level in three- or four-year degrees. Practical implications - It is shown that development education can be incorporated into engineering studies through different specific non-expensive activities. Originality/value - This work presents and puts in context the development education activities pushed coordinately between a non-governmental organization and an engineering school. Thus, it can be of major interest for both teachers and workers of the international development field.

Notes: Purpose - To distinguish sustainable development education from environmental education and stress the importance of problem-based interdisciplinary learning to sustainable development education. Design/methodology/approach - A range of published works relating to sustainable development education are critiqued, an introduction to complexity theory is given and related to sustainable development education, and a case study is provided to demonstrate an example of incorporating sustainability into course delivery and to demonstrate problem-based interdisciplinary learning. Findings - Our discussion supports our claim that reconciling sustainability and development requires a complex interdisciplinary approach beyond that found in some areas of traditional environmental education. Research limitations/implications - Our literature search is not exhaustive and focuses on sustainable development education. A much greater body of literature relating to environmental education exists. Practical implications - Our discussion and case study suggests practitioners designing and teaching sustainable development related programs should incorporate an interdisciplinary approach and allow for problem-based applied learning to take place. Originality/value - This paper distinguishes sustainable development education from environmental education and suggests practical courses of action for initiating sustainable development education in a meaningful manner.

Notes: Purpose - To demonstrate how quality management (QM), a widely accepted management paradigm, can be used to advance education for sustainability in the business curriculum. Design/methodology/approach - The assumptions of QM and environmental sustainability are explored. A class exercise is developed that uses QM tools - and in particular, Deming's 14 management points - to help management students to examine and critique environmentally sustainable practices in organizations. Findings - QM can be used as a bridge between management theory and environmental sustainability. QM can also be used as a framework for teaching environmental sustainability in management classes. The class exercise helps students to enhance their critical skills as they examine and assess sustainable practices in organizations. Practical implications - A useful perspective on integrating management theory and environmental sustainability. A very useful class exercise for teaching environmental sustainability in management classes, and helping students to enhance their critical skills. The class exercise benefits students, the larger business community, and society since it illustrates the importance of sustainability to future organizational decision makers. Originality/value - The paper illustrates how environmental sustainability and management theory can be integrated, and presents an original, company-based class exercise for teaching environmental sustainability in management classes.

Notes: Purpose - To explore some of the factors that could obstruct the implementation of the sustainability initiatives in higher education institutions as a way for assisting key players to improve the effectiveness of their potential or current sustainability initiatives and being ready for the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. Design/methodology/approach - It was conducted a literature review of published and unpublished articles, conference proceedings, university reports, books, and website documents. It was not target any specific discipline. However, most of the material was from engineering, economics, sociology, and related sciences. The time frame of the literature review was from 1990 to 2002. Important references prior to 1990 were also analyzed. Findings - The adequate conditions for the successful implementation of sustainability programs do not exist. There are many obstacles preventing the success of sustainability initiatives on campuses around the world. However, sustainability initiatives on campuses are flourishing despite these difficulties. Originality/value - Usually, literature about sustainability on campus is focused most on good experiences, paying little or no attention to describe the issues hampering their evolution. What went wrong is mentioned without sufficient consideration or given a secondary status making it impossible to learn from bad experiences. This paper reveals several failures as a way to anticipate solutions for overcoming institutional barriers confronted in particular situations.

Notes: Purpose - Laboratories typically consume 4-5 times more energy than similarly-sized commercial space. This paper adds to a growing dialogue about how to "green" a laboratory's design and operations. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is divided into three sections. The first section reviews the background and theoretical issues. A case is made for sustainable laboratories, introduce the Harvard Green Campus Initiative's (HGCIs) study of potential energy reduction in Harvard's research laboratories and examine other issues including: behavioral change, technical change, and the required codes and suggested standards that influence laboratory design and operations. Next, a survey conducted through a partnership between HGCI, Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), and Laboratories for the twenty-first century (Labs21) to clarify issues surrounding use of codes and standards in high-performance laboratory design and maintenance is introduced. Findings - Survey findings highlight the confusion among survey participants surrounding the applications and interpretations of current lab guidelines, codes and standards, particularly addressing sustainable performance. The findings suggest that confusion has financial, environmental, and human health consequences, and that more research is needed to define the operational risks to laboratory workers. Findings indicate that many energy efficient technologies and strategies are not routinely specified in lab design, perhaps in part due to confusion concerning the guidelines, standards and codes. Research limitations/implications - Although the survey sample size is too small to be statistically significant, it does provide valuable insight into the general confusion surrounding the applications and interpretations of current codes and guidelines, especially those addressing sustainable performance. Practical implications - The practical implications of this research are many, including that there are many opportunities for technical and behavior improvements within modern university laboratories that yield great energy savings. This is critical as laboratories are one of the most energy-intense building types on a university campus. Originality/value - The critical originality of the paper is provided in the analysis of the obstacles to achieving the great potential energy savings that exist within the university laboratory context.

Notes: Purpose - To provide an example of how colleges can partner with local EcoVillages to further sustainability curriculum on campus and the educational mission of the EcoVillages, and to strengthen ties with the community. Design/methodology/approach - Describes four structured courses developed for the Environmental Studies Program, including sustainable communities, sustainable land use, sustainable energy and environmental futures. Additionally, independent research opportunities in wind energy, solar photovoltaics, and GIS/GPS developed as part of the curriculum. Describes numerous ancillary activities that have promoted sustainability across campus and the community. Findings - Provides information about how to develop educational partnerships with community groups, foster sustainability education on campus, recruit additional faculty involvement, and influence college operations with respect to sustainability. Practical implications - A very useful source of information for those involved in building sustainability curriculum and linking it to campus operations and community outreach. Originality/value - This paper describes a unique partnership between a college and an intentional community that serves as a model for other colleges and universities.