Communication for modules address several key gaps in how sustainability is commonly taught at university.
Sustainability is often presented as a set of facts, frameworks, or goals, rather than as something that is actively shaped through communication processes. This course foregrounds how sustainability is explained, justified, questioned, and sometimes misrepresented through messaging, visuals, platforms, and narratives.
It also gives students a critical approach to address greenwashing, equipping them with practical tools to identify weak or misleading claims, and to rewrite them in clearer, evidence-based ways. In addition, CSR is reframed from a branding exercise into a strategic practice that must align with stakeholders, operations, partnerships, and measurable impact. By grounding SDGs in Vietnamese and Southeast Asian cases, the modules also address the gap between global sustainability frameworks and local realities. Finally, the use of authentic tasks responds to the common disconnect between sustainability theory and professional practice.
Importance
These modules are important for university lecturers because they align sustainability education with the realities students will face after graduation. Most graduates will be required to communicate sustainability claims, manage stakeholder expectations, and navigate ethical and reputational risks, even if they are not sustainability specialists.
Method
The modules support Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) by embedding systems thinking, ethical reasoning, and stakeholder awareness into concrete activities rather than abstract discussion. They also increase student engagement and teaching credibility by addressing skepticism directly and using local, real-world cases that make sustainability feel tangible, contested, and accountable rather than idealistic or distant.
Lecturers should treat this course as a practice-led, discussion-driven learning sequence, rather than a content-heavy lecture series. Core concepts such as CSR, materiality, stakeholder theory, greenwashing, and SDGs should be introduced briefly to establish a shared vocabulary, then immediately applied through local case analysis and authentic tasks. The lecturer’s role is to frame, scaffold, and challenge. This approach sets conceptual boundaries, provides credible examples, and guides students to evaluate evidence and ethical implications. Teaching should consistently move between theory and application, using Vietnamese and Southeast Asian cases to test whether concepts hold up in real organisational contexts.
Direct instruction works best for foundational concepts that students may not have encountered before or may misunderstand. This includes defining sustainability communication, distinguishing CSR from sustainability strategy, explaining stakeholder salience and double materiality, outlining common forms of greenwashing and introducing SDGs as a communication and accountability framework rather than a checklist. Short, focused lectures (10–20 minutes) are most effective here, particularly when paired with visual models, simple examples and clear definitions that students can reuse in analysis and assessment.
Overall Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs)
By the end of this course, students will be able to
SDG integration
Aside from SDG 12 and SDG 17, the course does not explicitly address the Sustainable Development Goals. Rather, students are tasked with identifying how a variety of goals can be aligned within communication plans and strategies.
Modules
Below are the downloadable module materials designed specifically for this course. Please download each file to view the details.
If you have any questions regarding this teaching resource, please contact the author via email: justin.battin@rmit.edu.vn.
