Implementing inter-institutional lifelong sustainability education: The UNI-ECO e-learning case study

Inter-institutional collaboration is a key strategic action for higher education institutions (HEIs) engaging in sustainability education initiatives. Collaboration of this type can strengthen sustainability knowledge sharing and production, develop student and staff sustainability competencies, foster research partnerships, and address strategic sustainability goals. However, meaningful scaffolding in terms of instructional design and professional development support is crucial for their success. This research describes an inter-institutional e-learning sustainability education initiative (UNI-ECO e-learning modules) for staff and students in five European HEIs. It presents a novel instructional design model for sustainability knowledge dissemination and behavioural change applied in five sustainability e-learning modules. This model integrated multiple sustainability focused learning activities fostering social presence, self-determination, and self-reflection in learners. Evaluation results (n=67) describe how modules, based on the model, encouraged learners to change or improve their sustainability practices, foster new sustainability skills, and share knowledge from the modules to others. This research contributes a novel understanding of designing and implementing lifelong sustainability education within inter-institutional HEI collaborations, providing recommendations for practitioners. Generalisability and transferability limitations to the research that can be addressed by further implementation in different contexts.