Sustainability Content in Engineering Courses and Curricula: A Multidisiplinary Workshop

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1440208 (Davidson). This grant is in support of the organization and conduct of a workshop related to identifying the capabilities of a web-based platform that will serve as a repository for educational materials in the field of sustainable engineering. The overall objective of the workshop is to bring together experts in education, sustainable engineering, and development of high-use web platforms to discuss two aspects of the proposed platform. The first aspect is to identify the most important activities and web platform features that would attract educators across the country and eventually globally to contribute materials for posting on the platform. There are numerous barriers that could prevent educators from contributing their materials, and discussions at the workshop will specifically address ways to overcome them. The second aspect is to identify the most important activities and web platform features that would attract educators around the world to download and make use of materials posted on the platform. To facilitate this goal, current learning systems, some with sustainability content, will be demonstrated. Experts will present state-of-the-art instructional design and strategies that promise to increase course preparation and teaching efficiency as well as student learning. Barriers to widespread use of such materials will also be discussed, and ways of overcoming them will be addressed. The output of the workshop will be a summary document on the results of these discussions that will enable serious thought on development of a web platform repository for sustainable engineering education materials. The methods to be employed in the workshop include plenary talks, panel discussions, open question and answer periods, and breakout group discussions.The proposed workshop has the potential to develop a blueprint for a web platform that could have a major effect on education in sustainable engineering. Hundreds of U.S. universities with engineering programs are currently inventing educational materials, courses, and curricula in the burgeoning field of sustainable engineering. There is a lack of coordination among these universities, with significant repetition of efforts to develop new educational materials. Coordinating content across multiple engineering disciplines offers an opportunity to generalize, cross-fertilize and more efficiently use content generally. Existing computer technology can make the process of educating the nation's engineers much more efficient. This is of great importance in a world of finite resources and a rapidly growing population as well as rapidly growing standards of living. Engineers are being tasked with solving many of the world's most pressing problems, and thus training these engineers to understand the constraints of twenty-first century is an urgent need. This project addresses this need using state-of-the-art equipment and methods. Diversity will be sought in all aspects of the project - the attendees of the workshop will be from several underrepresented groups, and from underserved institutions across multiple engineering disciplines. But the proposed workshop is expected to have an impact far beyond the workshop attendees. In particular, working toward a repository for educational materials in sustainable engineering accessible by everyone has the potential to benefit educators everywhere, and that can ultimately benefit engineering students everywhere. This work is thus the start of a multi-step process that has the potential to enhance the nation's educational infrastructure and benefit the nation's practicing engineers and thus society at large. This award is co-funded by two divisions in EHR (DUE and DGE) and three divisions in ENG (EEC, CMMI, and CBET).