Abstract:

Implementing a project-based pedagogical approach linked to the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is progressively becoming a priority within the EHEA as one of the pillars underpinning the current higher education scenario, together with the responsibility of higher education institutions to educate critical citizens. If linked to the content of each and every module, the SDGs provide a reflective framework that promotes the emancipation and the development of solid metacognitive strategies in the learning process of undergraduate students. This represents a double challenge both for the teaching staff, who must design the relevant learning environments that give rise to certain learning affordances, and the students themselves, who need to embrace a number of expectations regarding their central role in their learning process under post-positivist premises. Applying creative writing as a vehicle to articulate critical thinking and other related cross-curricular competences in the curriculum, the aim of the project we present is to encourage students to be aware of their very learning process in relation to SDGs. The innovation project "Writing for sustainable development: Promoting the SDGs, creative writing, and metacognition in higher education" has been implemented in 12 undergraduate and master's degree studies at University of Valencia (Spain), combining the efforts of 34 different modules in different faculties and degrees. Comprising more than 25 lecturers, 3 administration clerks, and 1700 students, the project, implemented in the 2019/2020 academic year, focuses on the first five SDGs: No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Good Health and Well-being, Quality Education, and Gender Equality. Building on the assessment instruments designed specifically for the project (initial and final questionnaires on the SDGs selected as well as the relevant metacognitive strategies developed by students), this presentation delves into how metacognition can be enhanced through a number of activities and tasks that cover the relevant curricular content through an engaged, SDG-based approach.

Keywords:

Metacognition, SDG, higher education, engaged pedagogy, 2030 Agenda.