Haifa Belhadj https://orcid.org/0009-0000-6947-9871

Abstract

Ensuring sustainable teaching and learning is a global priority, as it equips individuals and societies with the skills needed to address current challenges while preparing for the future. This conceptual paper presents perspectives, interpretations, and recommendations that foster sustainability within the higher education systems of the Arab region. It thoughtfully demystifies the concept of sustainability in education and identifies educational approaches that promote it. Through a comprehensive literature review, the study examines the implementation of these approaches in Arab universities, highlighting key challenges and limitations. The study’s findings underscore adopting a human-centered approach in education as a pathway to achieving sustainable teaching and learning (STL) and advancing the limitations. The study identified the significance of three interconnected pillars essential for achieving sustainable teaching and learning: establishing human-centered professional development programs, adopting human-centered learning design approaches, and fostering a human-centered approach for open educational practices, within Arab universities. Together, these pillars serve as a foundation for sustainable teaching and learning, ensuring that universities remain adaptable and aligned with both regional needs and global development.

##plugins.themes.bootstrap3.article.details##

Keywords

Sustainability
Learning design
Professional development
Open educational practices
Human-centered design

References
Al-Azawei, A., Parslow, P., & Lundqvist, K. (2017). The Effect of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Application on E-learning Acceptance: A Structural Equation Model. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18.
Albashiry, N. M., Belhadj, H., & Al-Smadi, M. (2024) "A Digital Competency Framework for University Teachers: Towards Agile and Sustainable Curriculum," 2024 ASU International Conference in Emerging Technologies for Sustainability and Intelligent Systems (ICETSIS), [Manama, Bahrain, 2024, pp. 1491-1494], doi: 10.1109/ICETSIS61505.2024.10459701
Albashiry, N. M., Voogt, J. M., & Pieters, J. M. (2015). Improving Curriculum Development Practices in A Technical Vocational Community College: Examining Effects of a Professional Development Arrangement for Middle Managers. The Curriculum Journal, 26(3), 425–451. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585176.2015.1040041
ALECSO. 2021. The Impacts of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Education in the Arab Countries and Around the World. https://observatory.alecso.org/Data/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Statistical%20Bulletin%202021-4%20(1).pdf
Almaiah, M. A., & Alyoussef, I. Y. (2019). Analysis of the Effect of Course Design, Course Content Support, Course Assessment and Instructor Characteristics on the Actual Use of E-learning System. Ieee Access, 7, 171907-171922.
Al-Thani, W.A., Ari, I., Koç, M. (2021). Education as a Critical Factor of Sustainability: Case Study in Qatar from the Teachers’ Development Perspective. Sustainability, 13, 11525. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132011525
Baran, E., & AlZoubi, D. (2020). Human-Centered Design as a Frame for Transition to Remote Teaching during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 28(2), 365-372. Waynesville, NC USA: Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education. Retrieved March 16, 2023 from https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/216077/
Ben Taziri, A., & Akkari, A., (2022), The Contribution of Open Educational Resources to Improving Higher Education in the Countries of the South: The Case of Tunisia. Journal of Educational Management and Evaluation. doi:10.5902/2318133870432
Bennett, S., Agostinho, S., & Lockyer, L. (2017). The Process of Designing for Learning: Understanding University Teachers’ Design Work. Educational Technology Research and Development, 65, pp. 125–145. https ://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-016-9469-y
Bin Othayman M. et al. (2022). The Challenges Confronting the Training Needs Assessment in Saudi Arabian Higher Education. International Journal of Engineering Business Management, 14. doi:10.1177/18479790211049706
Boeren, E. (2019). Understanding Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 on “quality education” from Micro, Meso and Macro Perspectives. Int Rev Educ 65, pp. 277–294. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-019-09772-7
Conole, G., & Wills, S. (2013). Representing Learning Designs - Making Design Explicit and Shareable. Educational Media International, 50(1), 24–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523987.2013.777184]
Cooley, M. (1987). Human-centred Systems: An Urgent Problem for Systems Designers. AI & Soc 1, 37–46. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01905888
Cullingford, C., & Blewitt, J. (2013). The Sustainability Curriculum: The Challenge for Higher Education. Abingdon/New York: Earthscan/Routledge
Daou, L., & El Hajj, C. (2023). Challenges and Opportunities Faced by the Students and Faculty Members. In: Azoury, N., Yahchouchi, G. (eds) Governance in Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40586-0_5
Demirel, H.O., & Duffy, V.G. (2013): A Sustainable Human Centered Design Framework Based on Human Factors. In: Duffy, V.G. (eds) Digital Human Modeling and Applications in Health, Safety, Ergonomics, and Risk Management. Healthcare and Safety of the Environment and Transport. DHM 2013. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8025. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39173-6_36
Diane Ebert-May, Terry L. Derting, Janet Hodder, Jennifer L. Momsen, Tammy M. Long, Sarah E. Jardeleza, What We Say Is Not What We Do: Effective Evaluation of Faculty Professional Development Programs, BioScience, Volume 61, Issue 7, July 2011, Pages 550–558, https://doi.org/10.1525/bio.2011.61.7.9
Filho et al. (2021). COVID-19: The Impact of a Global Crisis on Sustainable Development Teaching. Environ Dev Sustain, 23(8):11257-11278. doi: 10.1007/s10668-020-01107-z. Epub 2021 Jan 6. PMID: 33424430; PMCID: PMC7785399.
Garcia-Lopez, C., Mor, E., & Tesconi, S. (2020). Human-centered Design as an Approach to Create Open Educational Resources. Sustainability, 12(18), 7397.
Gilbert, A. (2014). GISs & GISPs Facilitate Higher Education. IGI Global Dictionary of Information Science and Technology. Retrieved from https://www.igi-global.com/dictionary/giss-gisp-facilitate-higher-education/28864
Goodyear, P. (2015). Teaching as design. HERDSA Review of Higher Education, 2, 27-50.
Graham L., Berman, J., & Bellert, A. (2015). Sustainable Learning: Inclusive Practices for 21st Century Classrooms. Cambridge University Press, ISBN: 9781107695955
Hassan, D., Gaber, A., & Ekshirbiny, H., (2019). Education for Sustainable Development in Arab Countries. Report of the Arab Forum for Environment and Development
Hays, J., Reinders, H. Sustainable learning and education: A curriculum for the future. Int Rev Educ, 66, 29–52 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-020-09820-7
Jemni, M., & Khribi, M.K. (2017). Toward Empowering Open and Online Education in the Arab World Through OER and MOOCs. In: Jemni, M., Kinshuk, Khribi, M. (eds) Open Education: from OERs to MOOCs. Lecture Notes in Educational Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-52925-6_4
Jeronen, E. (2022). Sustainable Education. In: Idowu, S., Schmidpeter, R., Capaldi, N., Zu, L., Del Baldo, M., Abreu, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sustainable Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02006-4_237-1
Kadi, S. (2021). Post-Covid-19, Arab Countries Need New Approaches to Education, U.N. Official Says, https://www.al-fanarmedia.org/2021/05/post-covid-19-arab-countries-need-new-approaches-to-education-u-n-official-says/
Karakaya, K. (2021). Design considerations in emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic: a human-centered approach. Education Tech Research Dev 69, pp. 295–299. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-020-09884-0
Karami-Akkary R. (2019). Evaluating Teacher Professional Learning in the Arab Region; The Experience of the TAMAM Project, Teaching and Teacher Education, Vol. 85, pp. 137-147, ISSN 0742-051X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.06.008.
Karami-Akkary, R. (2014). Facing the Challenges of Educational Reform: Lessons from the Arab world, Journal of Educational Change [JEDU], 15(2) (2014), pp. 179-202
Kohnke, L., & Moorhouse, B. L. (2021). Adopting HyFlex in Higher Education in Response to COVID-19: Students’ perspectives. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning, 36(3), pp. 231-244.
Krause, J. (2023). Six-Stage Pyramid Model for the Implementation of a Holistic Sustainability Approach in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), Considerations on Education for Economic, Social, and Environmental Sustainability, doi: 10.4018/978-1-6684-8356-5.ch004
Laurillard, D., & Derntl, M. (2014). Learner Centred Design - Overview. In: Mor, Y., Mellar, H., Warburton, S., Winters, N. (eds) Practical Design Patterns for Teaching and Learning with Technology. Trails in Education. SensePublishers, Rotterdam. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6209-530-4_2
Luka, I. (2014). Design Thinking in Pedagogy. The Journal of Education, Culture, and Society, 2, pp. 63–74. https://doi.org/10.15503/jecs20142.63.74
McGreal, R. (2017). Special Report on the Role of Open Educational Resources in Supporting the Sustainable Development Goal 4: Quality Education Challenges and Opportunities. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(7). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v18i7.3541
Minhas et al. (2021). Establishing an Effective Blended Learning Model: Teacher Perceptions from the United Arab Emirates. SAGE Open, 11(4), 21582440211061538.
Mrayhi, S., Khribi, M.K., Belhadj, H., Jemni, M. (2024). Designing Future Education for All: Principles and Frameworks. In: Huang, R., Liu, D., Adarkwah, M.A., Wang, H., Shehata, B. (eds) Envisioning the Future of Education Through Design. Lecture Notes in Educational Technology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-0076-9_7
Ng, A. W. (2019). Sustainability and education policy. In W. Leal Filho (Ed.), Encyclopedia of sustainability in Higher Education. Cham: Springer. Retrieved 8 November 2019 from https://link.springer.com/conte nt/pdf/10.1007%2F978 -3-319-63951 -2_482-1.pdf.
Rose, D. (2000). Universal learning design. Journal of Special Education Technology, 15(4), pp. 47-51.
Schleicher, A. (2020). The Impact of COVID-19 on Education: Insights from Education at a Glance 2020. OECD Publishing (2020).
Sebaaly, M. (2018). Online Education and Distance Learning in Arab Universities. In: Baydoun, E., Hillman, J. (eds) Universities in Arab Countries: An Urgent Need for Change. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73111-7_8.
Smidt, A. et al. (2009). The Kirkpatrick Model: A Useful Tool for Evaluating Training Outcomes. Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, 34(3), pp. 266-274.
Sterling, S. (2010). Sustainable education. In Science, Society and Sustainability (pp. 127-140). Routledge.
Tlili, A. et al. (2020). Current State of Open Educational Resources in the Arab Region: An Investigation in 22 Countries. Smart Learn. Environ. 7, 11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-020-00120-z.
Tractenberg, R., FitzGerald, K., & Collmann, J. (2016). Evidence of Sustainable Learning from the Mastery Rubric for Ethical Reasoning. Education Sciences, 7(1), Art. 2
UNESCO. (2021). Education Policy Review Report: Education for Sustainable Development. https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/education_for_sustainable_development_final_-_january_2021_1.pdf
UNESCO. (2023). Open Educational Resources. Retrieved https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000386081?posInSet=2&queryId=f24417d3-c060-452e-8cb5-09536b8bbd10
UNESCO. (2020). National Education Responses to COVID-19: Summary Report of UNESCO's online survey. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000373322?posInSet=23&queryId=e836241e-32ce-49fa-9693-cdaf1f205c15
UNESCO. (2024, October 21). Arab regional consultation on UNESCO’s 2019 Open Educational Resources Recommendation. UNESCO. https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/arab-regional-consultation-unescos-2019-open-educational-resources-recommendation
Yousfi, I. (2024). Ingénierie Pédagogique Numérique dans l’Université Marocaine: Analyse des pratiques et proposition d'un Référentiel de Compétences. Atae Journal for Studies an Research, 8, 305-324.‎
Zoltowski, C. B., Oakes, W. C., & Cardella, M. E. (2012). Students' Ways of Experiencing Human‐centered Design. Journal of Engineering Education, 101(1), 28-59.
How to Cite
Belhadj, H. . (2025). A Human-centered Approach Towards Sustainable Teaching and Learning in the Arab Region . Academic Network for Development Dialogue (ANDD) Paper Series, 2(2). https://doi.org/10.29117/andd.2024.020
Section
Articles in English