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Transformative Approaches to Sustainable Development at Universities pp 291–305Cite as

eLearning and the Sustainable Campus

Part of the World Sustainability Series book series (WSUSE)

Abstract

eLearning has been commonly accepted as a comparatively cost effective and environmentally friendly educational delivery technology. On the other hand, however, agreement as to its efficacy, quality and appropriateness for the social development and maturing of young adults, among other issues do not yield to a similar consensus. Following Brundtland’s model of sustainable development, this paper employs the Sustainability Circle Framework developed by the Global Compact Cities Programme and applies it to eLearning to provide novel and beneficial insights into the critical factors for the on-going sustainability of eLearning. The paper analyses eLearning with regard to the four domains of ecology, economy, culture and politics, providing a comprehensive and rounded perspective of the critical factors that enable eLearning to be sustainable. In addition the findings will provide input into on-going discussions regarding the adoption of eLearning by different educational sectors, within differing disciplines and across differing economic and cultural regions. Achieving an improved understanding of educational sustainability drivers has potential to not only reduce the ecological footprint of educational institutions but also to ensure that such reductions become systemic and endemic into the fabric of the institutions.

Keywords

  • eLearning
  • Sustainability circle framework
  • Sustainable campus

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Alberta, 323 General Services Building, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2H1, Canada

    Brian Stewart

  2. Faculty of Business, Athabasca University, 301-22 Sir Winston Churchill Avenue, St. Albert, AB, T8N 1B4, Canada

    Anshuman Khare

Authors
  1. Brian Stewart
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  2. Anshuman Khare
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anshuman Khare .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Environmental Science, HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

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Stewart, B., Khare, A. (2015). eLearning and the Sustainable Campus. In: Leal Filho, W. (eds) Transformative Approaches to Sustainable Development at Universities. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08837-2_20

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