Fifteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

University of Calgary’s new Certificate in Sustainability Studies launched in September 2017. This unique interdisciplinary two-year program provides students in almost every faculty with opportunities to conduct applied sustainability research through campus and community partnerships. Through a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) grant we focused on student experiential learning in the four core courses. Two key experiential learning components of the program, namely applied sustainability research projects and reflective journals, were assessed through Interviews with the first graduating cohort. Initial findings from this two-year study demonstrate the successes and challenges in establishing sustainability foundations and applications so that undergraduates may collaborate with peers from a variety of disciplines to conduct actual research projects with the partners from the private, public and not for profit sectors. The goals of this project include a deeper inquiry into student learning in sustainability and to develop assessment tools for future instructors of the team-taught core courses; the larger goal is to ensure students are offered the greatest learning opportunities to become sustainability leaders in their careers and communities.