4.3.2. Initial Reflections from SUD Lecturers

While the program is relatively new, there have been a number of valuable lessons learned during its development. Course development and team-based teaching has required that the three lecturers from different faculties—with their own disciplinary backgrounds—have had to spend considerable time learning about sustainability issues of the other two disciplinary fields. This requires a significant time commitment, as well as a need to be open minded to different teaching traditions, perspectives on topics and understand the importance of these perspectives for sustainable development. For this reason, it has been advantageous to recruit new lecturers who are enthusiastic about interdisciplinary collaboration, and are aware of the working requirements prior to beginning, rather than expecting existing staff to take on the extra commitment. It has also required the commitment from the university administration to provide the lecturers with the time and support to engage in this "invisible" work.

The team-based teaching approach and emphasis on student interaction has required flexibility in teaching schedules, as students may show particular interest in an idea or perspective which means teaching takes longer and there is less time to cover other perspectives. The coronavirus situation in Finland in 2020 has meant that teaching began using hybrid in-person and online methods, enabling students who were not able to attend to learn remotely. This has, however, provided interesting opportunities to use the coronavirus as a topic to learn about key sustainability issues globally, such as global urban connectivity, density, behavior changes, emissions, biodiversity, and human encroachment into nature.

According to Keeley and Benton-Short [48], one of the challenges of interdisciplinary team-based teaching is that teachers from different fields do not necessarily agree on what should be included in a course or even what the definitions of key concepts are. While the lecturers have spent time in identifying the core content, team-teaching has nevertheless been an act of balancing between having a shared understanding of the content and goals of teaching and using heterogeneous views to engage students in exploring the complexity of inherently interdisciplinary issues. Heterogeneity of voices may be valuable in its own right, because, as Sennett [63] argues, it encourages ethical practice of communication based on outward-looking orientation, willingness to listen to others, and cooperation rather than confrontation. This kind of communication is needed when "coping with complex realities [of cities] in which finesse and skill replace naked pushiness".

The hybrid teaching—with students both present in class and online—presented a number of challenges. Lecturers used Flinga to do groupwork and create discussion with the whole group with those who were present and who were online. In addition, Mentimeter was used to rank and discuss the ideas and themes within topics with the students, and Kumu was used for mapping systems thinking discussions. Zoom breakout rooms were utilized for having smaller group discussions and game-based learning activities. These online tools worked well, especially in finding out how students were reflecting on SUD

issues. However, the interaction with the students was harder to create than in face to face situation, and there was mixed success fostering engagement.
