Unsustainability in Sustainability Education: Limits of Technology In Situ

Alessandro Pollini () and Gian Andrea Giacobone
Additional contact information
Alessandro Pollini: Faculty of Psychology, Uninettuno Telematic International University, 00186 Rome, Italy
Gian Andrea Giacobone: Faculty of Psychology, Uninettuno Telematic International University, 00186 Rome, Italy

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 20, 1-29

Abstract: This study examines the challenges of implementing educational technologies for sustainability education in diverse, real-world settings. While such tools are often designed for universal applications, a multitude of contextual factors, particularly in low-resource scenarios, can impede their full implementation. Through a series of in situ experiments conducted across three educational settings in Greece, Romania, and Italy, the research revealed that field deployment yields critical insights into organisational and technical limitations that are not evident in controlled experiments. The key findings underscore the importance of incorporating a broad range of socio-technical factors into design research protocols. The research also reveals a significant trade-off between the readiness of a tool and the need for its contextualisation, underscoring that effective implementation requires iterative adaptation and tailored training. Ultimately, the work concludes that real-world deployment blurs the distinction between a prototype and a product, necessitating a flexible approach to ensure equitable and prosperous adoption.

Keywords: sustainability education; sustainable interaction design; design ethnography (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/20/9178/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/20/9178/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:20:p:9178-:d:1772759

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().