Categorizing
Educational Resources
for SDG Competence

The UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim for global achievement by 2030, with SDG 4.7 focusing on promoting sustainable development through education. However, there is a lack of adequate educational materials for K12 and university education.

This project utilizes machine learning and open data to analyze the integration of SDGs in various educational settings, classifying resources according to their relevance to SDGs. Innovative approaches, such as combining multiple classification models, enhance performance and transferability to different levels and materials. We classified over 12,000 courses from Hong Kong universities and 13,000 MOOCs for comprehensive local and international SDG analysis. 

Our findings, shared with local and global stakeholders, reveal significant variations in SDGs presence depending on subject and education level. The open-sourced classification mechanism encourages adoption by institutions and communities to facilitate SDG integration into learning processes, ultimately aiming for SDG achievement by 2030.

Related papers:

1. Wong, Z.Z., & Lei, C.U. (2024, December). Data-Oriented Exploration of the Coverage of UN Sustainable Development Goals in Taught Postgraduate Curricula in Four Universities in Hong Kong. in 2024 eLearning Forum Asia. 

2. Lei, C. U., S. Tang, & H. Wang (2024, December). Revealing Vocational Training on Achieving UN's Sustainable Development Goals: Analysis Through Machine Learning. in 2024 IEEE International Conference on Engineering, Technology & Education (TALE). IEEE.

3. Liu, R., Xie, Z., Lei, C.U., & Chiu, D.K.W. (2024) Revealing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in International MOOC Courses. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education.

4. Yao, R., Tian, M., Lei, C.U., & Chiu, D.K.W. (2024) Assigning Multiple Labels of Sustainable Development Goals to Open Educational Resources for Sustainability Education. Education and Information Technologies.

5. Lei, C.U., W. Chan, & Wang, Y. (2023) Evaluation of UN SDG-Related Formal Learning Activities in a University Common Core Curriculum. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education.

6. Lei, C. U., & Tang, S. (2023). An Analysis of Hong Kong High School Curriculum with Implications for United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Smart Learning Environments, 10, 47.

7. Lei, C.U. (2023) Evaluation of UN SDG-Related Formal Learning Activities across Universities in Hong Kong. Technical Report.

8. Lei, C.U. (2023) Empowering Learners for a Sustainable Future: Categorizing Educational Resources for SDG Competence. In 2023 International Conference on Sustainable Development. The Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

9. Lei, C. U. (2022). Analysis of the Connection of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals with the Hong Kong High School Technology Curriculum, in APSCE International Conference on Computers in Education, No. 2, 61-64.

10. Wang, Y., Li, Y., Hu, X., Xu, Y., Liang, X., & Lei, C. U. (2022). Massive Open Online Courses Role in Promoting United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In 2022 IEEE Learning with MOOCs. IEEE. 126-130.

11. Lei, C. U., Cham, C. Y., Liang, X., Qian, X., & Hu, X. (2022). Assessing the Integration of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in a University General Education Curriculum. in 2022 International Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge, 42-44.