A Badge of Honour

Recognising sustainable teaching principles with open badges

Abstract

AUT University is developing a certification checklist and support materials to encourage and acknowledge ‘green teaching’. Green teaching includes using less resources (e.g., paper, energy, transport, etc.), making more use of online tools and activities, and including conservation and sustainability concepts in course content. Lecturers can earn a green teaching label for their course, which is displayed in the University’s Learning Management System. This is designed to support a global sustainability imperative, and to align with a key strand in the University’s strategic themes. As a part of this project we have also developed an understanding of ‘open badges’, allowing our users to earn a verified award that can be displayed in a variety of other online systems.