Sustainability Education Intensive

You are invited to join us in celebrating the accomplishments of the Sustainability Education Intensive (SEI) program, as well as to have an open discussion on the program’s future! The session will start with a showcase of projects that have come out of the SEI, following with a visioning session, where we hope you will contribute your thoughts in identifying what worked best about the SEI, approaches that might enhance programming in the future, and on how we can further build capacity for sustainability education at UBC.

Click here to register!

Each SEI participant designs and implements a Sustainability Education Plan (SEP) specific to their course, program or initiative. If you check this blog under outcomes, you will find a list of the 2009 SEPs. The 2010 ones are still in the works and will be posted in the coming months.

Below, we’ve linked to a paper presented by Annette Berndt at the 2010 Canadian Engineering Education Association, as part of the outcomes of her 2009 SEP. Well done Annette!

SUSTAINABILITY AND THE OFFICIAL COMMUNITY PLAN: INTEGRATING COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCH INITIATIVES INTO A STANDARDIZED TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION COURSE FOR SECOND-YEAR ENGINEERING STUDENTS

The second annual Sustainability Education Intensive, which transpired May 30 – June 1, was another success! This year brought together 15 participants from various disciplines ranging from Business to Population and Public Health, and 4 institutions, including the College of the Rockies, Mohawk College, the University of Windsor and UBC. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience and look forward in supporting the participants in developing and implementing their projects going forward!

Thank you to everyone who spread the word about the SEI, attended as a presenter, nominated a participant to attend, and everyone else who helped make the SEI awesome!

If you are interested in being part of our third SEI in 2011, contact Angela at tag.sustainability (at) ubc.ca

Over the next little while we will be setting up a few Support Studios for SEI participants to troubleshoot and get more feedback for their projects, happening July 8 and November 1.

For those keen on seeing how the participant projects turn out – save the date for the SEI Project Showcase on January 11, 2011, 10:00am-2:00pm – everyone is invited!

On a similar note, we would like to highlight the successes of a closely related initiative: Sustainability Education Across the Province (SEAP-BC) Train the Trainer Workshop. It transpired two weeks before the SEI and brought together 30 champions from 11 post-secondary institutions across the province to learn about how they can advance sustainability education (with workshops like the SEI) at their own institution. Click here to check it out! Email Angela at angelawillock (at) gmail.com if you would like to learn more.

Lastly, click here to check out other upcoming sustainability education events!

Background:
Online technologies (Web 1.0 & Web 2.0) have become an integral component of effective contemporary pedagogy. From email to Facebook, nearly everyone accesses and uses the web daily. One study shows that teenagers ‘spend an average of 31 hours online’ per week!

Activity:
Find resources and tools on the SEI Blog and beyond to help develop your SEP. In small teams, complete the following activities and post your answers to the E-Olympics blog entry before others to win! Team members can work individually or in groups. The first team to complete the required number of entries for each event wins that event.

**Note: When typing up your entry in the comment box, insert your
Team Name (i.e. Team #1) in the ‘Name’ slot**

Event I:
The SEI Blog Scavenger Hunt

1. Find 8 resources on Refworks that you can use for your SEP – total of 8 examples required by the team.

2. Find other things in the SEI blog you can use in your SEP – total of 6 examples required by the team.

Event II:
Surfing the Web

3. Find 2 resources from each of these types of levels: (a) civic, (b) provincial and (c) national or international – total of 6 required by the team.

4. Find other things you can use for your SEP from the web – total of 4 required by the team.

**Note: There were some issues with this activity during the SEI and did not play out in full***

We are excited to announce….the SEI is starting in TWO days!

Here at TAG our Sustainability Team has been working hard to plan a smashingly successful SEI – click here to catch a glimpse of the fruit of our labors!

For this year’s participants: if you are hungry for some more interesting pre-readings, try this one:
“End the University as We Know It” By MARK C. TAYLOR

In the mean time, feel free to roam the Blog and the plentiful resources it provides.

See you soon! 🙂

– Alice, Yona and Angela
The TAG Sustainability Team

Thank you to all the excellent applicants to this year’s SEI! The application process is now closed; we will be notifying everyone of their status in the program very soon.

The Centre for Teaching and Academic Growth (TAG) is excited to launch the second annual Sustainability Education Intensive (SEI)! Over the course of 2.5 days (May 30 – June 1), members of the UBC teaching community will be given resources, support and funding to develop a sustainability education plan of action for their course, program or initiative.

The Sustainability Education Intensive will comprise of working in a supportive atmosphere, both individually and collaboratively, with a focus on becoming a reflective practitioner. The Sustainability Education Intensive (SEI) includes:

• Definitions of sustainability
  – Increase your sustainability literacy and awareness, as it relates to your discipline or area
• Teaching and learning tools and strategies
  – Experiment with specific examples that you can apply
  – Consider connections with sustainability
• Field trip
  – Get outside to experience place-based learning!
  – Learn about the natural features of our campus
• Networking
  – Connect with post-secondary sustainability education leaders
• Sustainability education plan
  – Work on your individualized plan throughout the SEI, a sustainability education plan of your choosing that is designed to affect change in your course, program or initiative. Participants from UBC: you must connect your SEP to UBC activities.
• Follow-up
  – Join a community of practitioners to continue the conversation about sustainability education
  – Access professional development funds for UBC colleagues: $500 for use towards attending a conference or specialized training, hiring a student, purchasing, etc…Participate in optional group support for all participants
  – Showcase your final work at events through TAG and SO, and online

Click here to find out more and apply!

Thanks to all the folks who joined in the Sustainability Education Networking Lunch today! Approximately 30 faculty, staff, students and community members (am I forgetting any post-docs?) participated in lively networking and a useful discussion following Jean Marcus’ presentation on the new University Sustainability Initiative. Jean reviewed the progress since the Sustainability Academic Strategy was accepted, and shared the exciting new website that is all things sustainability for UBC-Vancouver.

March 10, 2010 Sustainability Education Networking Lunch

When: March 10, 2010, 11:45am – 1:30pm
Where: Irving K Barber Learning Centre – TAG Fraser Room 2.27
Facilitator(s): Alice Cassidy, Yona Sipos

The second annual Sustainability Education Intensive is set for May 30, 31, June 1, 2010!

Mark your calendars; more information coming soon.