Sustainability Institute
Overview
The topic of sustainability is multi-disciplinary, includes varied perspectives and concerns, and creates values tensions in important topics that affect our world daily. Successful integration of Sustainability Pedagogy into science, engineering, economics, math, design, writing courses, psychology, and others is important as we prepare our Ohio State students for their future careers as well as living in our ever-changing society. Instructors who wish to enhance students’ engagement and learning through Sustainability Pedagogy should participate in this teaching endorsement.
Learning Outcomes
Participants will be able to:
- Create Sustainability Pedagogy-focused instructional objectives and integrate them into their courses.
- Align course learning outcomes with activities designed to integrate Sustainability Pedagogy Strategies.
- Disseminate examples of enhanced student engagement and learning..
Program Requirements
This teaching endorsement is structured around a community of practice (CoP) with a cohort size of approximately 20-particpants. The CoP takes place each spring with recruitment to occur during the previous Autumn semester. The CoP will be allocated on a first come first serve basis. There are no restrictions on who may participate. This opportunity is open to individuals on the Columbus campus as well as on regional campuses. Once selected participants will be added to the Carmen course and be assigned a coach from the available coaching pool.
Participants in the Foundations of Sustainability CoP will be enrolled an online asynchronous Carmen course. They will also have coaches who have participated in a previous CoP as well as have the option to attend check-in meetings throughout the semester. The details of requirements for each Carmen course module are listed below:
| Carmen Course Module | Details |
| 1: Developing a Foundational Understanding of Sustainability Competencies | Obtain an overview of and foundation for the Sustainability Competencies and the 6 Dimensions of Sustainability |
| 2: Using Sustainability Competencies to Enhance Elements of Your Course | Participants will choose one of the following projects to work on: - Focus on becoming more familiar with activities and active learning strategies with a plan to incorporate them into a sustainability-focused course
- Create a high-impact practice Sustainability Project for your students for a particular sustainability-focused course (i.e. a project involving undergraduate research, community engagement, study abroad, ePortfolios utilizing Pebblepad, or project-based learning)
- Redesign an assessment for one of your sustainability-focused courses
- Provide resources to help with each choice. Consult with SI for resources. Participants will receive feedback from coaches on their proposal form.
|
| 3: Pedagogical Practices to Improve Your Teaching of Sustainability | Participants will receive feedback from coaches. Key Competencies: Practical Approaches to Teaching Sustainability. Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. |
| 4: Professional Development Opportunities for Project Development | Participants will select TWO of the following professional development activities that will assist in designing their project choice: - Drake Institute Learning Opportunities (choose from the following list)
- On-Demand Learning Opportunities:
- Active Learning with Technology
- Designing Assignments for your Online Course
- Enhancing Program Assessment with Carmen Outcomes and Nuventive
- Supporting Program Improvement through Nuventive and Carmen Outcomes
- Using Carmen Outcomes for Course and Program Assessment
- Drake Institute workshops are offered on a rotating basis. Check the Workshops and Events page to see what's offered each semester:
- Adopting Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs): Simple Evidence-Based Strategies for Learning Through Assessment
- An Introduction to Evidence-Based Active Learning
- Course Design for Experiential Learning
- Designing Assignments for Teaching about and with Generative AI
- Evidence-Based Active Learning: Gallery Walk
- Evidence-Based Active Learning: Jigsaw
- Facilitating Effective Classroom Discussions
- Fundamentals of Experiential Learning
- Getting Started with ePortfolio Assignments
- Immersive Active Learning Workshop Series
- The Minute Paper and Muddiest Point Assessment for Learning Strategies
- Multiple Choice Questions: Assessment, Analysis and Scholarship
- Planning Active Learning for This Semester
- Reflective Writing: Assignment Design and Assessment
- Taking Active Learning Strategies to the Next Level
- Transparency in Learning and Teaching: Tilting Assignments Toward Student Achievement
- Transparency: Exemplars in Rubrics
- Using Case Studies to Enhance Student Learning
- Using Top Hat to Promote Active Learning in the Classroom
- Article reflections (listed on Carmen)
- Other Sustainability Programs offered at Ohio State – approved by CoP manager
|
| 5: Final Steps | Complete all steps to be eligible to apply for the Foundations of Sustainability Pedagogy Teaching Endorsement |
Verification
The final teaching endorsement application will require you to upload a completion of criteria document obtained from the manager of the Community of Practice.