Navigating Sustainable Educational Practices in Higher Education: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

When the pandemic hits, the current higher education landscape was shaken and disrupted. The situation was hastily remedied by resorting to emergency remote teaching and both students and instructors were forced to shift into online environment with minimal or lack of preparation. An important question arises from this unprecedented event; can the pre-pandemic framework of higher education be able to sustain challenges for unforeseen future challenges during the era of BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Non-linear, Incomprehensible) like economic downturn, environmental calamities, and political turmoil. To ensure educationalpractices at higher education remain continuous when disrupted, the teaching and learning landscape at higher education need to be transformed by adapting to sustainable educational practices that can thrive during crises. This study aims to conduct a systematic literature review concerning the ways higher education has adapted and adopted sustainable educational practices in the era of BANI post-pandemic. The review processes included five key methodological steps, namely guided by review guidelines, formulation of research questions, systematic searching strategies based on identification, screening, and eligibility on two established databases like Scopus and Google Scholar, followed by quality appraisal, and data extraction and analysis. Five main themes were revealed based on the thematic analysis: (1) Pedagogical shift to online learning; (2) transformative roles of instructors; (3) digital literacy and digital facilities; (4) social inclusivity and socio-emotional well-being in online community and finally (5) resilience and agility.