Abstract Book of the 8th World Conference on Education and Teaching
Year: 2025
[PDF]
Promotion of Sustainability Awareness Among Students through Implicit Learning
Heidi Schuhbauer, Patricia Brockmann, Christopher Fichtner
ABSTRACT:
Implicit learning is essential in higher education, as it allows students to absorb complex ideas and structures without consciously focusing on the learning process itself. Sustainability should play a key role in education because it equips students with the knowledge, skills, and mindset needed to address the complex environmental, social, and economic challenges of our time. By integrating sustainability into teaching, higher education institutions can promote critical thinking, a sense of responsibility and innovation orientation among students. Moreover, embedding sustainability into curricula helps align education with global priorities, such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and prepares graduates for the increasing demand for sustainable practices across all sectors of society.
Our observation was that aspects of sustainability often play only a subordinate role in teaching. Sustainability is usually treated as a separate topic, typically addressed at the end of a course. However, in line with the principles of implicit learning, it should be embedded across all areas. Therefore, as part of a project, we are revising the course economics in the bachelor’s program of information systems. The content and tasks of the lecture are systematically examined for sustainability aspects and enriched accordingly. In designing the assignments, sustainability features are deliberately taken into account. The goal is to guide students’ thinking in such a way that sustainability considerations are implicitly integrated into business decisions and processes.
Keywords: Course Design; Economics, Higher Education; Integration; Sustainable Development Goals;