Sustainability in Education Technology Design

Abstract

This chapter introduces a distinctive perspective at the confluence of sustainability, education, and technology, serving as a crucial bridge between sustainability innovations technology, design, and education. Education stands as a potential catalyst for change by promoting holistic understandings of sustainable systems that have potential to support sustainable behaviors beyond the classroom. With continued advances in modern technology that teachers might exploit for learning in the classroom, well-designed educational technology (EdTech) can provide meaningful learning opportunities in this domain. Yet, much EdTech designed to-date does not take sustainability-relevant theory into account, and—crucially—may in fact contribute to the climate crisis through its use of material resources and energy. The central contribution of this chapter lies in the creation of a novel conceptual framework, offering essential and practical guidance to EdTech designers/developers and researchers as they embark on crafting sustainable EdTech for sustainability (SETS).