About

The ARDES project developed and validated a short learning program (SLP) for higher education about Art, Design & Sustainability. This SLP aims to integrate climate change and sustainability into art and design curricula, to integrate knowledge and values associated with climate change and sustainability through engagement with art and sustainability, and to communicate these topics with the audience/citizens, using digital tools for interactive engagement, increasing their commitment towards climate change mitigation and sustainability.

Why?

  • There’s a considerable gap between the concern of young Europeans about Climate Change & sustainability and their personal commitment.
  • Scientific knowledge is not enough to change attitudes to actively engage with CC & sustainability. They require a social conscience and a civic responsibility that emerge from values & education. The arts are some of the most powerful values to significantly influence a community’s understanding and experience of sustainability & CC.
  • In higher art education, there are degrees/masters related to new media, cultural management, and communication. But few provide open & innovative, project-based learning by teaching how to bring design, sustainability and CC into the artistic expressions.

Objectives

  • Increase the effectiveness of the understanding & experience of CC competences through an innovative Short Learning Program for higher education institutions.
  • Reduce skills mismatches between the curricula of the art & design degrees and the UN Agenda 2030.
  • Provide art & design teachers and students with open educational resources to enhance motivation, opportunity and ability for sustainability action with art.
  • Produce innovative learning outcomes to allow for a sufficient degree of engagement of the students, ranging from research, analysis, reflection & production process of the artwork.
  • Make the learning program capable of evidencing the skills acquired by students during the classes during their extracurricular artwork productions or community work.
  • Develop the digital competence of the professors.

What did we do?

  • We developed a 4-module (8 ECTS) course in Art, Design & Sustainability. It consists of a curriculum, the course planning, lessons plan, assignments, assessment criteria and all the corresponding teaching & learning material.
  • We integrated digital tools to evidence and assess the artwork projects of students and to engage audiences in the principles of improvisation and the use of mobile technologies.
  • We had the course peer-reviewed by designers and environmentalists.
  • We translated the English course into Spanish, Portuguese, Greek and Catalan.
  • We made a Teacher’s Guide for extra support. 
  • We organized a 3-day teacher training in Valencia followed by trainings at each university.
  • The course was implemented at the 3 partner universities by 130 students and 12 teachers
  • We launched a Call for Artists where students who participated in the
    course could submit their works and projects. 
  • We organized an online exhibition with the work of the selected students.
  • There were 3 multiplier events (Cyprus, Barcelona/online and Valencia) where the results of the project were shared with 275 participants.
  • The results were shared on social media, in 5 multilingual newsletters and in 2 scientific publications.
ARDES. Short Learning Program of “Art & Design & sustainability with special focus on environment and climate change. 
Cooperation partnerships in higher education.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Ref: 2021-1-ES01-KA220-HED-000032193. 
Duration: 28/2/22 – 27/5/2024
Maximum grant: 198.340 €

https://ardesproject.eu/ 

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