Audit-based Learning: A New Platform to Enhance Case-based Learning, Teaching and Assessment within Education for Sustainability

It is widely held that Education for Sustainability within the business curriculum continues to lag behind needs of graduates in the workplace; new means and methods of learning, teaching and assessment to close this skills gap are therefore widely advocated. In response, I have developed an innovative learning, teaching and assessment platform for Education for Sustainability within the business curriculum: audit-based learning.
In this conceptual paper I present audit-based learning as an experiential, active learning, teaching, and assessment platform that is designed to enhance case-based learning for Education for Sustainability within the business curriculum. I suggest audit-based learning, which offers direct personal encounters with complex (un)sustainable situations and a multi-dimensional format for data analysis, can advance case-based learning through the completion of a sustainability audit. Audit-based learning enlists students’ preferences for active learning to promote sustainability knowledge, skills and values and employment skills demanded by businesses.
This study will help educators build capacity of staff to engage students in generative sustainability through active learning for Education for Sustainability within the business curriculum. Its’ exploration of audit-based learning builds on existing pedagogic discourse of innovative learning, teaching and assessment methodologies and contributes to research into participatory approaches to Education for Sustainability.