Sustainability and digital learning

The digital technologies we choose to use in our teaching can have both positive and negative environmental impacts. Many have a significant carbon footprint, especially since so many are now served from large cloud computing installations that consume considerable energy and water and emit greenhouse gasses. Universities and individual educators need to recognize the contribution of teaching technologies to their carbon footprint and seek technology partners who are committed to sustainability. There are practical things that educators and institutions can do to improve sustainability outcomes, including offering courses and programs in digital modes that minimize travel, using digital approaches to assessment wherever possible, minimizing printing, and choosing digital learning resources. This chapter will provide a basic overview of sustainability for digital learning, including using carbon footprints to evaluate impact on climate change, the complex relationship between common technologies and climate impacts, and introduce some practical ideas for how higher education institutions and teachers can contribute to reducing the impact of their practices on climate change.