 |
HOME ABOUT SLT COURSE CONCEPT CONTACT |
 |
 Join SLT group  |
Course concept The SLT was developed as a time efficient course to be implemented into University summer or winter term breaks in order to reach a maximum number of participants who are not studiing in a specific sustainability program. The SLT benefits from students with various interdisciplinary backgrounds who contribute with their individual experiences, with their study backgrounds and by creative as well as critical reflective discussions. As a block course the SLT runs for a period of two months either in summer and/or in winter with a maximum cours size of twenty. The course consists of blended learning structures with a minimum amount of introductionary upfront lectures. Students are designiung and controlling their learning progress while the professor becomes a trainer and sparing partner for discussions, guiding students in their process to understand sustainability. Before the course various topics to prepare presentations are distributed to students. The topics cover sustainability from a conceptual perspective, from a content perspective in ecology, economics and social issues regarding tourism and management of the case study area, the nature park High Black Forest, and on the different outdoor activities which are part of the course. Students present their topics throughout the main outdoor activity part which follows the first introductionary seminar. There is plenty of time for dicusssions in a not conventional setting. Activties like swimming or slack lining are furthermore creeating an inspirational and "easy" course atmosphere. In the main joint outdoor part (three days) students receive basic courses in outdoor sport activities which are typically part of tourism in the nature park. Mainly climbing, mountainbiking, nordic walking, snow shoeing, or backcountry skiing, depending on the season, are explored. Mental or social skills are trained in this period, and social barriers can more easily be dropped in order to work effectively in teams for a following period of eight weeks. During these three days stundents visit different "hot spots" of the study area and decide upon a topic for their own embedded cass study on sustainability in the case of tourism and management in the High Black Forest. Now knowing the area and having a clear idea of many management areas and examples student are responsible to work in small teams for a periond of about eight weeks. Their embedded case study projcts are either research or communication and outreach focused, and are always disseminated to practitioners/professionals or the public during this period in order to receive feedback. A final interactive seminar wraps the learing outcomes up and develops a network or systems graphic of the individual cases and how they interrelate. Networks are a powerful tool to demonstrate interrelations and why each decision effects the system. On these networks students learn to qualify and evaluate sustainability, including a political context. The whole course is subject to evaluation in a common and an extended understanding. An ex-ante and ex-post long term evaluation relate to the possible effects of the SLT on the life styles of the participants and their ways of thinking and decision making. The course structure in short:
|
   |
 |