Summer Sustainability Institute Template Description: STTE, NSF Project No. 0812576, J. Mattoon, External Evaluator, and Kim Smith, SSI Training Coordinator, July, 2010.
PCC’s Summer Sustainability Institute 2010
Curriculum Revision Plan
With support from Portland Community College’s Sustainability Training for Technical Educators (STTE) grant, funded by the National Science Foundation, the Summer Sustainability Institute (SSI) offers high quality and up-to-date training to help instructors infuse sustainability into their courses. The SSI is designed to support faculty in revising their curriculum to integrate current sustainability concepts, theories, practices, and policies to help prepare students for careers in green building design, construction and maintenance.
Section I: Curriculum Revision Plan Objectives
The SSI Curriculum Revision Plan helps guide participants’ development of new and/or revised course curriculum, with the following objectives:
· Identify how faculty will integrate their SSI experiences and new knowledge into their course curriculum.
· Align course revisions with current sustainability concepts, theories, practices, and policies.
· Document changes and/or additions instructors intend to make in their courses or teaching practices.
· Determine the impact that SSI participants expect from their course revisions. Will students:
o Develop new knowledge and skills relative to sustainability practices?
o Apply new knowledge and skills to their school or extracurricular projects?
o Change their perceptions and/or choices of courses, degree programs, or careers?
o Improve their awareness and knowledge of sustainability issues, principles and practices?
o Change their attitudes toward sustainability principles and practices?
· Ensure curriculum revision plans contain descriptions of essential elements for effective instruction, including:
o Specific outcomes or skills that students will produce or demonstrate
o Instructional formats to be used (lecture, hands-on learning, demo, etc.)
o Instructional tools needed (multimedia, technology, equipment, materials, etc.)
o Assessment plans to determine if students have achieved the set outcomes and skills (test, presentation, portfolio, observation by instructor, etc.)
The SSI Curriculum Revision Plan also seeks evaluation feedback, to assess participants’ curriculum revision experiences and to support continual improvement in course revision efforts. Please consider the following questions when developing your curriculum revision plan.
· How has the SSI shaped your curriculum revision process?
· How can the curriculum revision process be improved?
· What are the major challenges in revising your course(s)?
· What resources do you need to help your students reach their learning objectives?
Section II: Curriculum Revision Plan
Revision of at least one course is a requirement of the SSI program. The overall purpose of the Curriculum Revision Plan is to help you organize your ideas in a way that will facilitate integration of your sustainability training into your courses. Revisions should include some new content and instruction techniques.
You will have an opportunity to share your ideas with each other during the week, at the follow-up Summit on August 30, and via our web page at www.ppc.edu/stte. We request that you submit your completed Curriculum Revision Plan by August 30 to Kim Smith, the SSI Training Coordinator, at . Note that parts of your plan may be combined with other faculty input for use in evaluation reports, but names and other forms of identity will be removed to ensure anonymity. We appreciate all suggestions to help us improve the STTE SSI program.
Table 1. Course(s) to Revise
Identify the course(s) you plan to revise using knowledge and skills gained from the SSI.
College/School / Course Number & TitleSt. Louis Community College / Home Energy Auditor Training to be revised to
Energy Efficiency and Conservation: SKT 100
St. Louis Community College / Construction Methods CE 108 to be revised to Sustainable Construction
Why did you choose this/these course(s) for revision?
SKT 100: With Home Energy legislation pending “Recovery through Retrofit”, we anticipate considerable interest from our community, from both traditional students and incumbent workers/contractors who want to acquire new skills and certifications in this area. While there are short-term courses available and we have offered the course in a continuing-education format, we believe that the necessary skills are more than achieving BPI certification-what some have termed “a clipboard audit”. The coursework should reflect a deeper understanding of various issues around energy efficiency, energy conservation and building science with a strong emphasis on whole house performance.
CE 108: The greater St. Louis area has not yet experienced a robust demand for residential “green built’ homes, but we anticipate students need to learn and successfully employ sustainable construction methods-in preparation for the near future. Several new buildings in the area have recently earned LEED certifications, (including the College’s new Wildwood Campus-a LEED Gold building). With its collaboration with the local USGBC, the College has engaged in environmental scans to gauge further interest, including conducting several focus groups and we see the public awareness and interest is growing. From this collaboration and others currently with trade and union groups, contractors and trades people, the College wants to position itself as an educational leader in the field. Offering the Sustainable Construction class is the first of many courses that we are planning around Green Technologies, including Green Design, Sustainability Foundations, etc.
Table 2. Impact of Curriculum Revisions on Students
Describe the type of impact you expect your curriculum revisions will have on your students.
Circle “Yes” or “No” for each type of impact. Then, briefly explain your expectations.
Will your course revisions help students:Develop new knowledge and skills of sustainability principles and practices relevant to the course(s) and discipline? / Yes
Apply new knowledge and skills to their school or extracurricular projects? / Yes
Change their perceptions and/or choices of courses, degree programs, or careers? / Yes
Improve awareness and knowledge of broader sustainability issues within their communities and the world. / Yes
Change their attitudes toward sustainability principles and practices? / Yes
Be better qualified for jobs. / Yes
Rationale:
These courses will give students new skills and knowledge through targeted exercises and field experiences, allowing them acquire better understanding of sustainability and why it is important.
The revised courses, which eventually will be integrated into a new associate degree plan, will give students work-relevant skills. And through proposed articulation initiatives with other four-year schools in the region, the new course work will provide a career path for those who chose to continue towards four-year degrees. / Yes / No
Explain why you expect this/these impact(s) to occur. See above
Section III: Curriculum Revision Description
Use the following guidelines and tables to identify the learning objectives and instruction techniques you plan to revise in your course(s). They are designed to help you organize your plan for adding content and/or new student learning activities to the course(s) you teach.
Please copy and paste additional tables, if needed for multiple courses.
Table 3a. Learning Objectives
New or revised learning objectives are essential for effective curriculum revisions. Write student learning objectives that describe exactly what you expect students to be able to do related to sustainability after taking your course. Writing these as measurable actions, using action verbs, rather than in general terms like “understand” (which is hard to assess) is important. Reference the Verbs for Measurable Learning Objectives (at the end of this document) for help in setting specific outcomes for student knowledge and skills.
Course Number and Title: Sustainable Construction 208Required Text: Charles Kibert: Sustainable Construction: Green Building Design and Delivery, Second Edition
Students completing this course will be able to:1 / Describe the salient features of high performance green buildings & sustainability, using the vocabulary associated with green buildings’ design and construction
2 / Explain and enumerate the advantages and limitations of selected sustainable building materials with respect to local region
3 / Describe and differentiate among mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, & appropriate materials for a green building
4 / Define the characteristics of healthy indoor environmental factors and their relation to sustainable construction
5 / Describe the methods and rationale involved in reducing the ecological footprint of the construction project
6 / Compare and contrast the USGBC LEED-NC and Green Globes rating systems and explain how these rating systems impact various aspects of a building and its components and systems
Course Number and Title: Energy Efficiency and Conservation SKT 100
Required text: John Krigger and C. Dorsi, Residential Energy Saturn Publishing, 2004
Students completing this course will be able to:
1 / Define the principles of energy as they relates to the Laws of Thermodynamics, energy transformation and heat flow in a whole house system
2 / Articulate the functionality of electric circuits, control circuits, wiring, along with appliances and lighting and the integration of these in a residential energy system and the related conservation factors involved
3 / Describe the issues relating to energy efficiency and common construction methods, including building shell heat flow
4 / Demonstrate the correct usage of building diagnostic tools, including blower doors, combustion testing, refrigerator and hot water heater metering, etc. while
observing and maintaining safety and comfort for the homeowner
5 / Define the main characteristics of insulation, types of materials, facings and barriers, along with window and door types and discriminate among their features for those most efficient in energy conservation
6 / Identify and categorize forced air systems, heating controls, hot water and steam systems, electric heaters, hot water heaters, and discriminate in terms of efficiency and energy usage, while extrapolating their uses for different climatic zones.
Utilize ACCA load calculations and systems sizing for determining more efficient appliances while using the software associated with energy auditing
7 / Conduct an accurate energy audit which generates information for the homeowner on the ways and modifications that may be made to reduce energy usage
Recommend appropriate remediation relating to weather stripping, caulking, insulation, new appliances, windows, doors, etc.
Table 3b. New Teaching/Learning Methods
Describe any new teaching or learning methods you plan to use as a result of your SSI experience (multimedia, technology, lecture, hands-on learning, demo, etc.) to help achieve your new learning objectives.
New Methodology: Identify any new teaching/learning technique(s) you plan to integrate into your course(s).1 / Energy conservation course will employ frequent hands-on learning, using tools, setting up diagnostic equipment, etc. It will also utilize field experiences, in actual houses, where students will practice and demonstrate their competencies
2 / Sustainable construction course will utilize project-based learning modules, small group exercises, oral reporting, site visits and a charette exercise to demonstrate the processes utilized by design teams in construction projects
How do you expect the new teaching/learning method(s) increase your students’ knowledge or skills or change their attitudes?
· In both cases, the content matter lends itself to field exercises, site visits and hands-on learning experiences. These will enhance and strengthen the learning activities-providing opportunities to accommodate different learning styles and preferences. In general, attitudinal change about the learning of new material happens more slowly and occurs after the student has a time in which to reflect upon and process new information. Meta-cognition activities structured as discussion groups, and feedback and debriefing sessions can assist in this.
Describe how each new activity will be set up. What must the instructor and/or students do to prepare for the activity? Identify set-up tasks, equipment, materials, and/or supplies needed to complete the activity. Describe what students must do to prepare for the activity when appropriate (e.g., reading, studying, forming teams, etc.).
Energy Efficiency and Conservation:
Instructor’s activities and preparation:
· Identify and ensure necessary equipment is in good working order, (blower doors, nanometers, combustion safety monitors, portable drills, etc.)
· Ensure access to a computer lab for several course components, including identification of practice houses for field practice, access to local taxing records for preliminary information on square footage, construction type, etc.
· Preliminary identification of utility bills for usage monitoring
· Assemble climatic data for region, i.e. average daily temperatures and any other pertinent weather conditions for region
· Facilitate small group discussion and problem-solving activities
· Create and share with students the competency check list that will be used in field exercises
Students’ preparation
· Memorize common terms and acronyms associated with energy auditing
· Perform accurate calculations, square footage, volume, etc.
· Utilize formulas to calculate load, efficiencies, etc.
· Use technology, including computers, for data collection relating to energy audits
· Form study teams to prepare for external certification processes (BPI certifications)
· Model the behaviors and competencies of successful energy auditors by displaying appropriate customer communication techniques, ability to describe to a customer the pertinent findings of an energy audit conducted at a residence
Sustainable Construction: Instructor activities
· Ensure variety of buildings available for site visits, and provide the appropriate background data including utility costs/usage for students to compare and contrast
· Identify guest speakers with appropriate credentials and working experiences to address class
· Create opportunities for students and instructor/guest speakers to interact in forums and other interactive venues
· Identify and distribute selected additional reading lists and reference sites for students wanting or needing more information
· Ensure that students understand the parameters of LEED certifications and the processes required to obtain external certifications
Student activities:
o Form teams for class projects
o Work collaboratively in groups
o Perform research as directed by instructor
o Give oral presentation, and illustrate with slides and charts on selected topic
o Demonstrate knowledge of content on tests and final exams
Table 3c. Student Assessment
Student assessment should be closely aligned with each learning objective. Try to ensure that students demonstrate active use of new knowledge by solving problems, making critical decisions, or creating new information or products from what they learn. Assessment of new skills may require only a few new test questions or they might require direct observation of new tasks or collaborative work. To make your observations consistent and accurate, you may wish to create a checklist or rubric that enables you to assign ratings of student performance (e.g., excellent, good, acceptable, poor).