A collaborative learning activity to analyze the sustainability of an innovation using PESTLE

Abstract

This paper presents a collaborative learning activity for courses in engineering degrees or master’s programs that cover the subject and skills of sustainability, social compromise, and ethics for engineering. The activity consists of performing a multidisciplinary analysis of a case of study, which presents a technology or innovation, to detect and debate possible issues and solutions. This learning activity is based on the PESTLE methodology that is used to analyze the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental aspects of a technology or innovation. The PESTLE analysis is implemented using the jigsaw collaborative learning technique. This learning activity can be completed in two sessions of two hours. To validate its usefulness, the learning activity was applied for two semesters in a study on two courses: one in Informatics Engineering Degree and the other one in the Master Degree of Sustainability at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, with very good results.