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A student centred approach to shaping sustainability of teaching within Chemical engineering education
The aim of this Practice is to promote and apply sustainable teaching through active student participation. Students were asked through focus groups to identify methods to improve the sustainability within an Autumn semester Chemical Engineering module. Based on these brainstorming sessions, actions were identified which were then implemented in a similar style of taught module in the following Spring semester. These actions were; provision of notes in electronic rather than paper form; use of an online discussion group website through Facebook; electronic coursework submission; part use of audio commentary presentations rather than traditional teaching lectures.
Sustainability is a key word in today’s society, and developing a sustainable chemical industry is one of the drivers for future Chemical Engineering education. As a result of this much focus has been placed on teaching sustainable practices to students and embedding sustainability into course curricula, but it is also important to demonstrate sustainability directly through the methods in which we teach these practices. Various work has been carried out looking at using electronic media in various aspects of teaching, but not always in the context of sustainability and reducing the impact of teaching on the society and the environment. This work was developed to start addressing this issue, with the intention to involve students in the process both to empower them and to aid in their educational development on the subject.
This is initial work looking at how to promote and apply sustainable teaching within a Chemical Engineering module through student participation in the process. A group of first year Chemical and Environmental Engineering students were divided into focus groups of four to five students and asked for suggestions to improve the sustainability of teaching. After this brain-storming, a number of suggestions were chosen to be implemented in the following semester during one of their modules. These were; provision of notes in electronic rather than paper form; use of an online discussion group website through Facebook; electronic rather than paper submission of coursework; part use of audio commentary presentations rather than traditional teaching. At the end of the module, students gave feedback on the techniques via questionnaires to assess their suitability for application in other taught modules.
• Engage and empower students in the application of sustainable teaching techniques in Teaching Chemical Engineering through involving them in its development.
• Reduce the use of paper in teaching through the use of electronic notes and coursework submission.
• Implement new forms of electronic teaching techniques and media to enhance student learning and reduce the resources required for staff/student dialogue.
Implementation of focus groups to identify methods to improve the sustainability within an Autumn semester Chemical Engineering module
Based on these brainstorming sessions, actions were identified which were then implemented in a similar style of taught module in the following Spring semester. These actions were; provision of notes in electronic rather than paper form; use of an online discussion group website through Facebook; electronic coursework submission; part use of audio commentary presentations rather than traditional teaching lectures.
Extrapolating from questionairre feedback and online data collection, approximately thirty percent of the class regularly used the Facebook site, with sixty three percent of the class registering to use it. While only a small minority (fifteen percent) of students contributed to the sites development and learning potential, it is likely that other students benefitted from their contributions and the posts did identify area’s of learning not directly taught during the class. Nearly all students used the electronic lecture that replaced the traditional class, with feedback to the lecture being positive. While students identified its use as a revision tool, they were less sure in its use to replace conventional lectures. The electronic submission of coursework was very popular indeed with the students, and also made administrating the coursework easier for the lecturer while saving a significant amount of paper. Feedback from students indicated what while not providing printed notes was unpopular amongst a small minority (five percent) of students it managed to reduce the amount of paper used for lecture notes by two thirds (on a per student basis) over of previous years.
The use of a student centred approach to teaching modifications and the use of Facebook as a teaching tool are the two main innovative aspects to this work. The former gives the students a sense of ownership of the process and thus an increased motivation to participate fully in the process. The latter takes advantage of students increasing participation in social online networking sites to incorporate teaching and learning into their social lives, to increase the frequency with which they are confronted by the subject of study during their non-academic lives.
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