Assessment : Learning Reflections

Learning Reflection : Thinking about how your essay scenario relates to the three pillars of sustainability (social, economic and environmental)

By now you should have started developing ideas about the scenario you have chosen for your essay (from one of the five listed below). In approximately 250 words (that is, two paragraphs each of approximately 125 words):

1. For your chosen scenario, what are some of the different sustainability concerns that you think need to be considered under each of the three pillars (environmental, social and economic)?

2. Given the concerns you have identified, do you think any of the three pillars should be responded to first to help achieve a sustainable outcome? Why or why not?

For example, in Ben Brown's Tanakeke Island case (see video in Week 4.2), the economic pillar had to be addressed before the other two pillars, because the community was so poor.

NB: For this learning reflection, your answers should not include any research or referencing, as they should simply be based on your own understanding and what you may have learned so far in the unit.

Scenarios:

•Food production

• The health and livelihoods of groups of people seeking asylum

• Personal lifestyle choices in modern urban settings

• Resource usage in a professional organisation (e.g. hospital, school, law firm, etc.)

• Tourism

Points to consider for passing Assessment 1:

• Read the questions carefully, stay on topic and stick to the word limit.

• Use ‘Scoop-it' to help inform your ideas.

• Read the guidelines for the Persuasive Essay (Assessment 4) so that you are clear about the scenarios available to choose from and how this assessment relates to Assessment 4.

• Structure each reflection in two separate paragraphs to fully answer both questions.

• The reflective writing genre differs from essay writing.

A ‘learning reflection' should give your original thoughts, knowledge and/or ideas on a topic with no concern about being ‘right or wrong'. It should relate to the topic through meaningful, everyday life experience.

Your voice (as author) should be clear and relatively informal. Use this task as a starting point toward building your understanding of ‘sustainability' and your chosen scenario, as well as an opportunity to practice writing clearly and concisely.

• Write your draft response in a Word document so that you can use spell-check. Then save a copy for your records before copy-and-pasting into the submission area on Learnline.

• Don't settle for an obvious or predictable response. Challenge yourself to reflect critically and analytically about sustainability in your answers.