National Health Outreach and Engagement Conference 2024

McDonough, M, Fera, F, Tugman, B, Sherry, J, Strickland, J, and Dancz, C.
The United Nations encourages higher education institutions to promote the knowledge, skills,
and motivation for student adoption of behaviors that address the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) through educational avenues and experiential learning. The Sustainable
Development Solutions Network (2017) recommends a five-step process for universities that
includes identifying opportunities and gaps in educational efforts. Many SDGs target several
dimensions of health and well-being through personal and community involvement. This work
aligns with the One Health approach to teaching wellness.

Two Clemson University instructors collaborated with educational researchers and
undergraduate students to understand student perceptions from two different disciplinary global
challenge courses, Global Health (Public Health Science) and Contemporary Issues in AVS
(Animal and Veterinary Sciences). Both classes had SDG-related course objectives, which
empowered this collaboration. Through an end-of-course survey, students reported changes in
attitudes towards the SDGs and behaviors in working towards SDG progress. To dive deeper
into these changes, the research team has implemented quantitative and qualitative pre- and
post-course surveys to understand potential drivers for actionable changes, aiming to shed light
on the processes through which classroom learning translates to real-world health outreach and
action. Results will be shared with the community to encourage others to incorporate
educational practices that promote SDG-related behaviors and well-rounded global health
citizen actions