Global Consensus Is a Dream, but Twitter Is Real: Simulating a Sustainable Development Goals Summit Through Interdisciplinary Classroom Politics and Negotiation by Social Media

Rio+20 saw commitment from the international community to develop SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs) to shape the global efforts towards sustainabledevelopment. As part of an interdisciplinary curriculum innovation module at theUniversity of Southampton, students take part in a‘SDGs Summit'. Interdisciplinary student groups represent nation‘blocs'attempting to reach consensus onsix priority SDGs, from a starting set of sixteen, through personal and social medianegotiation. The exercise requires students to inhabit the perspectives of different‘blocs', challenging them to extend their understanding and application ofsustainable development beyond their own discipline. This paper shares bestpractice on this innovative vehicle for teaching students the complexitiessurrounding international political negotiation and agreement where the outcomes will have differing social, economic and environmental consequences for the‘blocs', depending on their economic prosperity, natural resources, states ofdevelopment, and political ideologies. The paper also explores how the summitincorporates the challenges around inequality of access and influence on the globalnegotiating platform. The adaptation of existing simulation and negotiation pedagogies to address current global political concerns and the use of Twitter in theclassroom is considered to be a suitable approach to address the complexinterdisciplinary subject area of sustainable development. Although initiallyfocused at ESD practitioners, the interdisciplinary, social media and internationalfocus of the SDGs Summit renders this approach relevant for pedagogicalinnovators and students across the globe.