50 SDG 17 Partnership for the Goals – University of Guelph, Canada

Daniela Senkl – Instructor

As an instructor of a course which looks at planetary sustainability and as such problematizes many interrelated and interdependent aspects of unsustainable business practices, the COIL project added a wonderful element of hope and optimistic outlook for students. Through an appreciative inquiry approach, students focus on the positive in their exploration of how various businesses work towards achieving a particular sustainable development goal.

The coordination between international team members, in particular, the scheduling of a joint meeting time, surely created a challenge for many teams. At the same time, the coaches and instructors co-created such a positive atmosphere and continuously prioritized the international learning experience over the focus on traditional-type graded outputs by making the process of getting together a part of the required submission. This took off some pressure from students and allowed them to fully interact with an open mind. The reflections and posters turned out amazing and I am proud of each and every of the various student contributions.

It was lovely for me as an instructor to observe students’ excitements about the sharing of experiences with their international peers. Some students shared how they had not thought about the universality of meaning of sustainability across the world. This eye-opening experience will surely impact students’ lives. Especially during the current times of great turmoil all over the world, with wars and armed rebellions in many countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas it was truly heart-warming to see this generation of students interacting in such a collaborative and caring way. COIL W24 has encouraged young minds to build relationships across without borders.