4.3.1.7.1 The Worksheet. The worksheet was created around the TED-Ed video The life cycle of a t-shirt with the aim of introducing the topic of sustainability and ethical consumption. As the idea of the worksheet was conceived during the 2020 Spring lockdown, it was an important consideration to make the task sheet asynchronous lesson-friendly: thus, there were individual tasks and some conversations which had to be recorded. In the warmer activity, the students have to discuss some questions about their relationship to clothes with the aim of personalising the topic. In the second activity, they are given facts in connection with the fashion industry, and they are asked to predict the correct numbers in them. Then, they are asked to check their predictions in an article taken from the World Economic Forum’s official site. Before watching the short activity, the students are familiarized with some key vocabulary from the text. While watching the video, they are asked to order the phases of the life cycle of a t-shirt, and while watching it for the second time, they are asked to take notes about different aspects of the video. In the next task, they have to discuss questions in connection with the advice given in the video and they are also invited to fill in a quiz about their own fashion footprint. They are asked to further ponder the ways of reducing their fashion footprint in activity 7, and then, they are involved in a short, 10-minute research session, when they have to research one of the aspects of the 6 Rs of fashion and report back their findings to a member of the group. The sequence concludes in two projects the students can choose from: they can either look into the origins of the clothes they are wearing and present their findings to the group or enquire into the sustainability policy of their favourite clothes brand. Apart from these activities, their homework is to spend some minutes on Google’s Your plan, your planet website, on which they can learn some tips about eco-friendly behaviour. The worksheet can be found in Appendix I.

 

4.3.1.7.2 Results from the Reflective Journal. Even though the activity sequence was piloted in two subsequent years in six groups, in all cases, the lessons took place in an asynchronous setting. In all these groups, the main topic of the lessons was world issues, so it seemed reasonable to address the question of sustainability through a topic that students can mostly relate to. The progress of the students was monitored in different ways: most of the students filled in the worksheet on Teams, which could be checked easily. Also, they were asked to record the discussions they had and upload them to the Class Notebook, together with their projects. It became apparent from their answers that the listening did not pose any problems to them, they found the language of the video suitable, nevertheless, they did encounter some new words which they deemed useful. After listening to their discussions, it is reasonable to say that the topic generated a lot of interest from some students, who eagerly participated and happily shared their experiences and views about the issue. In the first year, some students from Groups E and F simply did not do all the activities (nevertheless, this was the time they had to be reminded to tend to their university responsibilities during the lockdown too), so in order to ease the burdens of the Groups in the 2021 Spring semester, they could choose whether they wanted to do exercise 7 and the short research activity or any of the two projects. Many of them opted for researching the sustainability policy of their favourite fashion brands and they presented brands such as Benetton, Air Jordan, Decathlon, H&M, Zara, or Yves St Laurent. Many students did quality work and created eye-pleasing and well-thought-out presentations, but it must be noted that there were some students who clearly put minimum effort into this task. Captions of their presentations can be found in Appendix P5.

 

4.3.1.7.3 Student Feedback. The feedback from the students’ part was overwhelmingly positive. Many of them commented that the activity sequence was useful, they found the video interesting, and they managed to learn more about an issue they had already known something about. As Respondent 8 saw it, she “learned a lot of things that [she] had no clue about, for example the charity shops in [her] area, and what to do with one’s disused clothes”. Respondent 4 also reflected on the fact that doing these activities opened her eyes and she realized there is always room for improvement when it comes to learning: “We all know something about being environmentally friendly, but as it turned out we know very little. So, I found these activities very useful for opening my eyes.” Some students felt that they would never have discussed this topic, had it not been for this lesson. In Respondent 15’s words, “to be honest, I don't think that I would search for these things on my own” and Respondent 16 saw it very similarly: These activities “showcased something I didn't think too much about but have a huge impact on the world as a whole”. Some students also alluded to making some changes in their lives after doing the activity sequence:

 

Apart from the apparently positive feedback, two students also put forward some negative comments (one of them complained that the topic was boring for him, and another student said it was just like a piece of homework) and some constructive criticism. As Respondent 23 saw it, even though he found the activities entertaining and informative, the amount of them was overwhelming for an asynchronous lesson. Overall, the lesson seemed to be engaging and informative to the students and the students seemed to be determined to keep their promises about changing some of their behaviours.