Abstract: This article examines a professional development workshop aimed at introducing faculty to transformative learning approaches for teaching sustainability-related content. The small-scale, exploratory case study used data from surveys and a focus group to gain preliminary insights into faculty’s engagement with the Burns Model of Sustainability Pedagogy after the workshop. Findings revealed a shift in participants’ pedagogical approaches towards problem-based learning, role play, and simulations, and away from didactic lectures. Participants highlighted the model’s potential to enhance learners’ sense of place, illuminate complex problem interconnections, develop critical thinking skills, and question power dynamics. Potential implementation challenges included time constraints, the need for faculty support, and assistance in developing place-based, project-based, and experiential learning experiences. Despite a strong inclination to integrate the model’s components, synthesizing the dimensions proved challenging for participants. The study underscores the necessity for incremental improvements to course design and long-term institutional support to effectively adopt sustainability pedagogy in higher education.
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