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A Framework for Integrating Sustainability Education, Research, Engagement, and Operations through Experiential Learning

A Framework for Integrating Sustainability Education, Research, Engagement, and Operations through Experiential Learning. Barbara S. Minsker, Professor and Associate Provost Fellow for Sustainability University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign minsker@illinois.edu. Acknowledgments.

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A Framework for Integrating Sustainability Education, Research, Engagement, and Operations through Experiential Learning

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  1. A Framework for Integrating Sustainability Education, Research, Engagement, and Operations through Experiential Learning Barbara S. Minsker, Professor and Associate Provost Fellow for Sustainability University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign minsker@illinois.edu

  2. Acknowledgments • Funding provided by U of Illinois (Office of Provost, Office of Sustainability, Institute for Advanced Computing Applications & Technologies) and Microsoft Research • Hundreds of faculty, staff, and students from across Illinois contributed to this presentation. • The ideas of the following individuals were particularly influential in shaping the Illinois vision & implementation: • Brian Anderson • Suhail Barot • Val Beasley • Hans Blaschek • Brian Deal • Gale Fulton • Praveen Kumar • Robert McKim • Jesse Ribot • Bill Stewart • Madhu Viswanathan • Michelle Wander • Dick Warner • Carl Wegel

  3. Objective of the Illinois Sustainability Vision • Become a world leader in creating new knowledge and innovative solutions to the following grand challenges: • Maintaining or restoring critical ecosystem function while providing essential human services; and • Sustainably raising quality of life for the poor to acceptable levels. • To do so, we will infuse sustainability programs across campus to foster a level of cross-disciplinary engagement comparable to a unit or center.

  4. 2010-11 Illinois Sustainability Implementation Plan

  5. Four-Step Approach to Education Create sustainability education outcomes as a guide for curriculum development Inventory and disseminate existing courses & programs Develop programs to support sustainability curriculum development and fill gaps Create experiential learning sites (living laboratories) Overall Goal: Create campus-level structures that enable grassroots infusion of sustainability across the curriculum so that every Illinois student meets the education outcomes.

  6. Sustainability Outcomes http://sustainability.illinois.edu/SETF-LO.html

  7. Four-Step Approach to Education Create sustainability education outcomes as a guide for curriculum development Inventory and disseminate existing courses & programs Develop programs to support sustainability curriculum development and fill gaps Create experiential learning sites (living laboratories)

  8. Online Course Inventory

  9. Mapped General Education Course Options to Sustainability Outcomes & Approaches

  10. Inventoried Sustainability-Related Majors and Minors • Impressive breadth of program offerings • 8 undergraduate majors • 5 undergraduate minors • 6 graduate majors • 1 graduate minor • 3 certificates • Not all programs highlight “sustainability” yet connect directly to learning outcomes

  11. Four-Step Approach to Education • Create sustainability education outcomes as a guide for curriculum development • Inventory and disseminate existing courses & programs • Develop programs to support sustainability curriculum development and fill gaps • Social dimension • Full integration of social, economic, environmental dimensions • Create experiential learning sites (living laboratories)

  12. Scholarship of Sustainability Series http://sustainability.illinois.edu/scholarship.html • Reading & debating seminal sustainability literature • Public discussions linked to disciplinary courses across campus • Videotaped and archived for future courses • Engaged hundreds of students, faculty, staff, & community members in Spring 2010 and 2011

  13. Prairie Project: Infusing Sustainability Across the Curriculum http://sustainability.illinois.edu/prairieproject.html • Modeled after AASHE national curriculum workshops, but added greater curriculum focus in 2nd offering • May: 2-day hands-on curriculum retreat with faculty & resource experts (curriculum & experienced faculty from multiple disciplines) • Brainstorm ideas and define initial plans • Follow up reviews and discussion over summer • January: Follow-up debriefing & brainstorming lunches

  14. Prairie Project Improvements • More hands-on curriculum development • Engaging sample teaching activities • Curriculum and topic advisors work hand-in-hand with instructors • Plans for education goals, activities, and assessment submitted by end of retreat • Invited participation in Illinois Climate Action Plan activities: • Facilities & Services • Student Sustainability Committee • Celebrated successes – reception with Provost Wheeler presenting certificates of completion

  15. Participant Evaluations, 2010 vs 2011

  16. Prairie Project: Next Steps • First cohorts of 35 instructors in 2010-12 will reach 6,500 students/yr • Goal: Scale up to 60 faculty/year (reach 20% of 3,000 faculty in 10 yrs for institutional transformation) • Need to engage more faculty and administrators through: • College- and department-level workshops and presentations • Sustainability Education Summit for Department Heads and Deans • Who should spearhead this work in the future? • Office of Provost and Center for Teaching Excellence do not provide topic-specific education support, yet they have expertise and contacts needed for success

  17. Four-Step Approach to Education Create sustainability education outcomes as a guide for curriculum development Inventory and disseminate existing courses & programs Develop the Prairie Project, a sustainability curriculum development program Create experiential learning sites (living laboratories)

  18. Experiential Learning Sites (Living Laboratories) • Enable synergistic research, education, engagement, & operations on campus & in regional & global communities: • Long-term partnerships & infrastructure that support hands-on learning on real-world problems • Multiple classes interact, supported by advanced information systems: • Synthesizing: • Citizen & embedded sensing data • Models • Documents and other information • Social networking • Digital observatories • Decision dashboards

  19. Meteorology: wind Air Temperature Net radiation Humidity Canopy Temp PAR Energy Farm Site Fluxes: CO2 H2O S Fluxes: N2O CH4 CO2 Photos: phenology Soil: Heat flux Temperature (to 1 m) Moisture (to 1 m) Source: Energy Biosciences Institute Instrumented field drains

  20. Digital Observatory for Upper Embarras Watershed

  21. Consumption and Entrepreneurship Across Literacy and Resource Barriers Marketing and Management in Subsistence Marketplaces Literacy, Poverty, Culture and Psychology Partnerships With Communities & Industries Research Consumer and Entrepreneurial Literacy Program - India Sustainable Prod. & Mkt. Dev. for SubsistenceMarketplaces Sustainable Businesses for Subsistence Marketplaces Sustainable Marketing Enterprises Nutrition Education Materials - USA Teaching Social Initiatives Source: Madhu Viswanathan

  22. Experiential Learning Sites (Cont’d.) • Emerging examples: • Building Green Economies in Underserved Communities Through Student-Community Entrepreneur Teams – Illinois and India • Industrial Agriculture to Feed and Fuel a Growing World Sustainably – South Farms experimental farm and Embarras Watershed • Net-zero Energy Building for Electrical and Computer Engineering – Champaign • Biofuels Living Laboratory – C-U campus • Sustainable watersheds, with Tsinghua U. – Beijing, China • International Sustainable Development Studies Institute expedition field courses in Thailand

  23. Experiential Learning in Civil and Environmental Engineering • Learning objectives: • Identify and evaluate connections between real-world engineering solutions and the environment, society, and economy • Analyze and recommend solutions to real-world sustainability problems through a systems analysis approach • Watershed case studies (Spring 2011): • Embarras River Basin (Illinois) • Shiyang River Basin (China, partnership with Tsinghua U.) • Urban case study in Champaign-Urbana, IL (Fall 2011) 11.1 Global Education

  24. Sustainability Education Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.  Nelson Mandela You can never have an impact on society if you have not changed yourself.  Nelson Mandela Tell me, I'll forget.  Show me, I may remember.  But involve me and I'll understand. Chinese Proverb

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