Rev. Draft
27 June 2012
Concept Paper
for an innovative, collaborative, multi-sited graduate course
International Environmental Policy Consultancy
by David Sonnenfeld 1, Bettina Bluemling 2, and Zhang Lei 3
I.
Overview
Faculty & students at three universities on three continents would work together
in this hybrid, online and face-to-face, master's level, project-oriented
(capstone-type) course on comparative international environmental policy.
Integrating in different ways with master's programs at each of the three
institutions involved, the course would encompass academic instruction on
environmental policymaking in China, Europe, and the US; applied training in
academic consultancy skills; and coordinated group consultancy with an
international environmental organization or agency. Approximately 8-10 students
would participate from each university, for a total of 24-30 graduate students.
At ESF, the course is targeted especially for MPS students in Environmental
Studies, Environmental Science and related fields, but will be open to interested
MS and PhD students, as well. Students in the ESF's new Peace Corps
International Master's program may find the course particularly interesting. As
necessary or desirable, the course could also be marketed through the Division
of Outreach as a continuing education course for non-matriculated students. At
Wageningen University (WUR), the course will be integrated as a section within
with the institution's graduate Academic Consultancy Program, a required course
for a variety of master's degree programs. At Renmin University (RUC), the
course initially will be integrated into a closely-related, already-existing graduate
course; in the future, it could become part of a new, joint, international master's
program involving the partner institutions.
The course will be constructed on a platform combining several distance-learning
technologies. These include online videoconferencing; live and recorded videostreaming of lectures; a dedicated social networking site (to be determined);
shared online resources, via Google Docs (now Google Drive) or other 'cloud'
domains. A grant of €14,400 for AY 2012-13 has been received from
Wageningen University's Division of Distance Learning to assist with the
infrastructural design & start-up costs.
1
Dept. of Environmental Studies, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry,
Syracuse, NY, e-mail: dsonn@esf.edu
2
Environmental Policy Group, Dept. of Social Sciences, Wageningen University, the
Netherlands, e-mail: bettina.bluemling@wur.nl
3
Dept. of Natural Resource and Environmental Policy, Faculty of Arts and Sciences,
Renmin University, Beijing, China, e-mail: lei.leizhang@gmail.com
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Substantive focus
This is project-oriented (capstone-type) graduate course on international
environmental policymaking in comparative perspective. The scholarly starting
point will combine perspectives on both the convergence of national/ regional
environmental policies into global environmental policies; and the challenges and
opportunities of national environmental policy implementations of supranational
environmental policies and problems. This didactic dimension will be developed
across all three sites in Part I of the course (see accompanying Timetable
spreadsheet), through lectures, discussions, and practice assignments. The latter
will be topical in nature, helping bridge between the introductory, didactic part of
the course, and the later, applied course components.
As a key, integral component of the course, students from ESF, WUR & RUC will
work together as a fixed-term consultancy group for an international
organization, i.e. an intergovernmental agency (e.g. UN Division of Sustainable
Development, ADB, UNEP, IEA) or transnational NGO (e.g. WWF, IUCN, FoEI).
For a given year, the organization will be engaged well in advance as cooperating
or commissioning 'client'. Students will fulfill the terms of reference of a
commission from the organization, e.g. to assist the organization in preparing for
an upcoming international conference or negotiation on an environmental topic,
an existing global environmental policy, a present environmental discussion or
phenomenon. The commissioning organization and topic will vary from year to
year, but there could be continuity, as well. As a potential 'bonus' or reward for
outstanding effort, (some of the) students and instructors could present their
results at a related international conference (Rio+20, COP, etc.) or meeting.
In fulfilling their commission, students would work together on research (analysis
of available data, surveys, interviews) and data presentation (report, multimedia, web-based or other form) on some aspect of how various actors in their
respective countries / regions are addressing (or might better address) a
particular global environmental problem. Insights from these studies and their
work together will strengthen intercultural understanding between the students
in the three sites on the nature of global environmental problems and potential
solutions.
Organization
The course will be organized in three parts: academic, skills training and
experiential (see Figure 1). In Part I, students will learn a framework for
comparative analysis of international environmental policymaking in China,
Europe, and the US – drawing on the instructors combined expertise in these
areas, and will gain background about a particular global environmental problem.
In Part II, students will receive training in practical consultancy skills (e.g.
negotiating clear terms of reference, organizing project work teams,
communicating with the client, delivering the final product). In Part III, they will
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carry out a consultancy project for an international
governmental, or non-governmental organization.
II.
27 June 2012
intergovernmental,
Collaboration
Institutional partners
-
Dept. of Environmental Studies, State University of New York College of
Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF), USA
Environmental Policy Group, Dept. of Social Sciences, Wageningen
University, NL
Dept. of Environmental and Natural Resources Management, School of
Social Sciences, Renmin University, China
Targeted graduate programs
-
-
-
SUNY-ESF
o Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in Environmental Studies
o Peace Corps Masters International Program (PCMIP) in
Environmental Studies
o MPS in Environmental Science
o Master of Science (MS) in Environmental Studies
o PhD in Environmental and Natural Resource Policy
Wageningen University
o In principles all Master programs (since they all encompass life
sciences. The project could however be particularly relevant for
Master of International Development Studies and Master of
Environmental Sciences.
Renmin University
o Master of Environmental Economics and Management
o Master of Natural Resources Management
o Master of Environmental Policy and Management
Instructional staffing
Three co-instructors, one in each location:
-
SUNY-ESF: David Sonnenfeld, PhD
WUR: Bettina Bluemling, PhD
Renmin University: Zhang Lei, PhD
As part of its Academic Consultancy Project, Wageningen University will assign
an additional instructor ('process coach') to facilitate intercultural learning and
group process.
Cooperating partner organization ('client')
Each year, an intergovernmental agency (UN Division of Sustainable
Development, ADB, UNEP, IEA etc.) or transnational NGO (WWF, IUCN, FoEI etc.)
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will be engaged as “cooperating partner” for the course.
III. Course learning objectives
Content related learning goals
•
Learn about a particular international environmental problem and its global
and national dimensions
•
(If applicable, learn about international policies addressing the respective
problem)
•
Learn and discussing national policies (as part of / response to international policies)
•
Learn about the implementation of national policies and their implementation contexts for all three cultures
Skills-related learning goals
4
•
Systematically analyze and compare the implementation of an international policy across different contexts by deconstructing it into its major constituents and identify its current and future dynamics and vulnerabilities in
different country contexts
•
“Determine, with a team and in interaction with a client, the goals of a
project and formulate tasks and a project plan on the basis of their
disciplinary knowledge and general academic skills and attitude
•
“Adjust, with their team and in interaction with the client, the formulated
project goals and plan when and if necessary
•
“Defend and sell their viewpoints and conclusions in a professional and
representative way and academically correct
•
“Contribute at an academic level to the execution of an interdisciplinary
project both in terms of process and content related to their own
disciplinary training by gathering, selecting and analysing information and
integrating this into project deliverables” 4
•
Learn how to address environmental problems in an interculturally
sensitive way, using different virtual communication environments
•
Understand how to use communication technologies and facilities for
cross-country collaborations
Source: “Learning Outcomes”, Academic Consultancy Training program, Wageningen
University, the Netherlands.
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IV. Distance learning/ course integration approach
The collaborative, international, (partially) online-learning course will take place
in a coordinated, but largely asynchronous manner in the three locations. The
three project sites are 6 to 12 hours apart by time zone, as follows:
•
•
•
Syracuse, NY
Wageningen, NL
Beijing, China
-5 GMT
+1 GMT
+7 GMT
Given these differences, the collaboration will be based on a variety of ways of
interaction, employing ICT in different ways, involving different objectives for
interaction. The below listed ICT tools represent our current state of thinking, but
remain under discussion.
Joint virtual meetings
Objective: to update each other and harmonize the three sites’ plans and
progress.
Frequency: four times throughout the project, i.e. joint launch with client,
mid-term presentations, presentations of preliminary product to client, final
product presentation to client.
Participants: students, instructors, client; total number of 30 – 35.
ICT tool: video-conferencing or web-conferencing.
Interaction method: one facilitator at each site moderating the interaction;
video conference meeting schedule agreed among coaches and client before
the conference.
Sub-theme groups
Objective: 1 – 2 students at each university will form a group of 3 – 6
students to jointly work on a sub-theme; they will collaborate on writing the
sub-theme part of the consultancy report.
Frequency: to be arranged by the student group, from daily to every two –
three days.
Participants: 1 – 2 student/s from each side; total number of 6 students per
sub-theme group.
ICT tool: Social networking site (Ning or other platform, TBD) and emailing;
web-conferencing for direct conversation.
Interaction method: on the basis of a lecture by one (or more) of the
instructors, students at each site will first discuss ways of interaction with
the other students, then they interact with them keeping in mind some
principles in intercultural virtual communication.
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Web-lecturing
Participants: a group of students (plus lecturer) from one site, and a
lecturer (from another site); total number of 11.
Frequency: six lectures from the three instructors will be put online. The
students from the other site can watch and discuss it together with their
local instructor at a time suitable to their schedule.
Objective: learning about Chinese, US and EU / Dutch environmental
politics and the political system and one case study (that is related to the
project) each.
ICT tool: Social networking website.
Interaction method: recording the lecture and then putting it online the
social networking site. Watching and discussing the lecture within the group
of the own university, facilitated by local instructor.
Whole group exchange
Participants: all students and lecturers; total number of about 35.
Frequency: possibly high interaction in the beginning.
Objective: to get to know each other.
ICT tool: social networking platform
Interaction method: before or at the beginning of the course, each student
would post a profile on the social network, with her/his professional
background, program, & research interests. This will help students get to
know each other and select their subtheme groups based on joint interests.
V.
Support requirements
Distance-learning technologies
-
Video-recording of lectures
Web conferencing platform (Skype, Sharepoint, etc.) for live meetings with
client and small-group meetings
Dedicated social networking website (for asynchronous collaboration)
Smart classroom
−
Each site will require a small, dedicated 'smart' classroom with the
appropriate hardware & software to meet the technical specifications for
the course, mutually-agreed well in advance (fall 2012)
Social networking platform (internal)
−
Support for design and set up of the dedicated social networking site
(included in WUR grant)
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Website (external)
−
Support for design and set up of a dedicated external website for general
information about and promotion of the course (included in WUR grant)
VI. Scheduling
Offered for the first time in Fall 2013 (beginning last week of August/ first week
of Sept.); thereafter, taught each fall.
*
*
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Appendix A. Possible consultancy topics
Examples of phenomena that could be looked at
-
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disasters with international dimension where international coordination is
required (sea level change, hurricanes, flooding), waste shipment, nuclear
fallout
climate refugees, environmental refugees
On a policy level
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global climate change policy (e.g. REDD/ REDD+)
food versus fuels / food and energy policy
land grabbing (phenomenon, no international policy so far as we know)
trade in hazardous waste
Basel convention
On the level of citizens / citizen-consumers / consumers
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eco-certification
international standards (e.g. food standards)
labeling and registration and use of genetically modified food
alternative fuel transportation (get consumer dimension deeper)/
standards for after-use of car materials
farmers’ associations and their role in food security
financial incentives for solar energy use on household level
financial incentives for energy efficiency increase (IEA as the common
forum and policy initiator)