Renee Stoops; renee.stoops@chemeketa.edu; 503-584-7252
PCC’s Summer Sustainability Institute 2010
Curriculum Revision Plan
With support from Portland Community College’s Sustainability Training for Technical Educators (STTE) grant,
funded by the National Science Foundation, the Summer Sustainability Institute (SSI) offers high quality and up-todate training to help instructors infuse sustainability into their courses. The SSI is designed to support faculty in
revising their curriculum to integrate current sustainability concepts, theories, practices, and policies to help prepare
students for careers in green building design, construction and maintenance.
Section I: Curriculum Revision Plan Objectives
The SSI Curriculum Revision Plan helps guide participants’ development of new and/or revised course
curriculum, with the following objectives:

Identify how faculty will integrate their SSI experiences and new knowledge into their course curriculum.

Align course revisions with current sustainability concepts, theories, practices, and policies.

Document changes and/or additions instructors intend to make in their courses or teaching practices.

Determine the impact that SSI participants expect from their course revisions. Will students:

o
Develop new knowledge and skills relative to sustainability practices?
o
Apply new knowledge and skills to their school or extracurricular projects?
o
Change their perceptions and/or choices of courses, degree programs, or careers?
o
Improve their awareness and knowledge of sustainability issues, principles and practices?
o
Change their attitudes toward sustainability principles and practices?
Ensure curriculum revision plans contain descriptions of essential elements for effective instruction, including:
o
Specific outcomes or skills that students will produce or demonstrate
o
Instructional formats to be used (lecture, hands-on learning, demo, etc.)
o
Instructional tools needed (multimedia, technology, equipment, materials, etc.)
o
Assessment plans to determine if students have achieved the set outcomes and skills (test, presentation,
portfolio, observation by instructor, etc.)
The SSI Curriculum Revision Plan also seeks evaluation feedback, to assess participants’ curriculum revision
experiences and to support continual improvement in course revision efforts. Please consider the following
questions when developing your curriculum revision plan.

How has the SSI shaped your curriculum revision process?

How can the curriculum revision process be improved?

What are the major challenges in revising your course(s)?

What resources do you need to help your students reach their learning objectives?
Section II: Curriculum Revision Plan
Revision of at least one course is a requirement of the SSI program. The overall purpose of the Curriculum Revision
Plan is to help you organize your ideas in a way that will facilitate integration of your sustainability training into your
courses. Revisions should include some new content and instruction techniques.
You will have an opportunity to share your ideas with each other during the week, at the follow-up Summit on August
30, and via our web page at www.ppc.edu/stte. We request that you submit your completed Curriculum Revision Plan
by August 30 to Kim Smith, the SSI Training Coordinator, at kdsmith@pcc.edu. Note that parts of your plan may be
combined with other faculty input for use in evaluation reports, but names and other forms of identity will be removed
to ensure anonymity. We appreciate all suggestions to help us improve the STTE SSI program.
Table 1. Course(s) to Revise
Identify the course(s) you plan to revise using knowledge and skills gained from the SSI.
College/School
Chemeketa Community College
Course Number & Title
HOR 278- Ecological Problem Solving
Many brand new course outlines will be written over fall/winter
2010-2011 as we develop a new phytotechnology program
Why did you choose this/these course(s) for revision?
This is a brand new course that will be taught for the first time this fall. The course outline is currently written
for Horticulture students but I want it to serve also as a basic sustainability/environmental literacy course that
can be adapted to other departments. The college as a whole is moving toward developing sustainable literacy
requirements for both students and staff.
Table 2. Impact of Curriculum Revisions on Students
Describe the type of impact you expect your curriculum revisions will have on your students.
Circle “Yes” or “No” for each type of impact. Then, briefly explain your expectations.
Will your course revisions help students:
Develop new knowledge and skills of sustainability principles and practices relevant to
the course(s) and discipline?
Apply new knowledge and skills to their school or extracurricular projects?
Change their perceptions and/or choices of courses, degree programs, or careers?
Improve awareness and knowledge of broader sustainability issues within their
communities and the world.
Change their attitudes toward sustainability principles and practices?
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
Be better qualified for jobs.
Other: Please describe.
Yes
No
Yes
No
Explain why you expect this/these impact(s) to occur.
This course is designed to take students out of their comfort zone and to a place where creativity and new
perspectives will give them new ways to solve problems. It is designed to help them learn how to process
thinking for themselves in a critical way that addresses functional problems. It will change their perceptions,
but can be applied to any field in sciences or humanities, so I don’t expect this course to change career choices.
Although we will base our activities around specific scenarios for phytotechnology/horticulture fields, critical
thinking skills and sustainability awareness is applicable to all aspects of their lives. Creativity and critical
thinking are very empowering in general, especially so when related to current issues of the world, and they
should generate an attitude of hope and possibility toward sustainability issues, rather than a current common
attitude among students of overwhelm and disconnection. Employers inherently value these skills and character
traits among employees but do not often seek them or evaluate them directly in the job application process. So, I
am not sure these new skills will help them get jobs, but they will perform better in the jobs they do get.
Summer Sustainability Institute Template Description: STTE, NSF Project No. 0812576, J. Mattoon, External Evaluator, and Kim Smith, SSI Training
Coordinator, July, 2010.
Section III: Curriculum Revision Description
Use the following guidelines and tables to identify the learning objectives and instruction techniques you plan
to revise in your course(s). They are designed to help you organize your plan for adding content and/or new
student learning activities to the course(s) you teach.
Please copy and paste additional tables, if needed for multiple courses.
Table 3a. Learning Objectives
New or revised learning objectives are essential for effective curriculum revisions. Write student learning
objectives that describe exactly what you expect students to be able to do related to sustainability after taking your
course. Writing these as measurable actions, using action verbs, rather than in general terms like “understand”
(which is hard to assess) is important. Reference the Verbs for Measurable Learning Objectives (at the end of this
document) for help in setting specific outcomes for student knowledge and skills.
Course Number and Title:
HOR 278- Ecological Problem Solving
Students completing this course will be able to:
1
Articulate environmental challenges in water quality, climate change, and waste
management, especially in managed landscapes (both rural and urban built
environments).
2
Present detailed information about a landscape situation based on direct sensory input
(sight, sound, taste, smell, touch).
3
Describe conventional treatment practices in water quality, climate change, waste
management.
4
Explain the effects of fragmentation and integration on ecological processes in
urban/natural landscapes.
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6
Develop potential strategies for turning waste into functional resource.
Evaluate the major energy inputs for landscape or production horticulture based on
sustainability and cost criteria.
Summer Sustainability Institute Template Description: STTE, NSF Project No. 0812576, J. Mattoon, External Evaluator, and Kim Smith, SSI Training
Coordinator, July, 2010.
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Debate the benefits and challenges of decentralized and centralized natural resource
management systems.
Distinguish between mechanical and ecological management approaches.
List the externalized/lifecycle costs /implications of a potential technology and compare
to a list for another technology designed for the same overall outcome.
Respond to a challenge in the natural/urban interface with a step-by-step ecological
problem solving strategy.
Summer Sustainability Institute Template Description: STTE, NSF Project No. 0812576, J. Mattoon, External Evaluator, and Kim Smith, SSI Training
Coordinator, July, 2010.
Table 3b. New Teaching/Learning Methods
Describe any new teaching or learning methods you plan to use as a result of your SSI experience (multimedia,
technology, lecture, hands-on learning, demo, etc.) to help achieve your new learning objectives.
New Methodology: Identify any new teaching/learning technique(s) you plan to integrate into
your course(s).
I consider all my teaching techniques for this course to be new, as I am committed to not using any
powerpoint lectures. I want the teaching techniques to model the content of discovering new
critical thinking skills.
Divide the class into 2 teams. Each team will take a technology (for example harnessing solar
1 energy via PV panels compared to harnessing solar energy from plant biomass) and list all
the internalized/externalized/life cycle costs. We will then structure a debate between the
teams as to which technology ‘wins’.
I will choose an outdoor site with a fair bit of ecosystem interaction present. We will visit the
2 site once as a class together. I will walk the students through sensory exercises, where they
will need to record what they see, hear, smell, touch, taste, and intuit. Then, once per week
for the remainder of the term, they will be required to visit the site and record the same
sensory categories. They will be practicing their sensory observation skills and learn to track
changes, even subtle ones, over time. I can ‘plant’ things in the area as a check to make sure
they are actually doing their HW from the site, rather than making it up.
Pre-assign a piece(s) of current literature based on the day’s topic. Have each student come to
3 class with a question for discussion written on a piece of paper. I will mix up the questions
‘in a hat’ and each student draws a question and needs to answer it.
Each student brings in a week’s worth of trash from their homes. We open up every student’s
4 trash bag and start separating materials into similar piles and modify what we need to turn the
trash element into a form that can be utilized as part of a media mix for growing plants. Each
student will have a chance to mix their own ‘trash media’ with different percentages of
components, label a pot or two, and they will all plant the same species in their pots. We will
monitor plant growth and articulate the functions of a growing media for plants and also
mimic the creative use of recycled materials in media mixes for greenroof and living wall
technologies.
How do you expect the new teaching/learning method(s) increase your students’ knowledge or skills or change
their attitudes?
Hands-on active learning (as opposed to memorizing information) is an instant tool of engagement. To
complete the activities, they must think about what they are doing. When they think it through themselves, they
will be able to repeat it again when the problem comes up for them in their careers/lives. Even if they don’t
remember what their former solution ended up being, they will never forget how to think thru the issue. And
when the situation is different than what they’ve seen before, they will still be able to apply the critical thinking
skills and feel empowered to approach the problem. Having to perform activities they’ve never done before will
adds tools to their problem-solving toolbox. Activities that look at all angles of an issue will reinforce the
complexity of the issues and also show them how to use that very complexity as part of the solution.
Summer Sustainability Institute Template Description: STTE, NSF Project No. 0812576, J. Mattoon, External Evaluator, and Kim Smith, SSI Training
Coordinator, July, 2010.
Describe how each new activity will be set up. What must the instructor and/or students do to prepare for the
activity? Identify set-up tasks, equipment, materials, and/or supplies needed to complete the activity. Describe
what students must do to prepare for the activity when appropriate (e.g., reading, studying, forming teams, etc.).
1. Instructor must have a list for each technology prepared ahead of time, to guide students when/if they get
stuck. We will watch the Story of Stuff (laptop/projector with sound system or DVD player needed) and
talk about life-cycle analysis. Student teams will be formed in class. And each team will have a chance in
class to prepare a list of generic items on the list of costs and assign each group member an item or two to
research the specific values of before the following class period. The instructor will need to set up rules and
structure for the debate/competition in the following class period and then facilitate the process. Maybe we
can entice a third party judge to join our class just for the evening and decide who ‘wins’.
2. See above for details
3. See above for details
4. We will need a big tarp where students can empty out their trash bags and gloves for everyone. We’ll need
a variety of simple tools like scissors, hammer, tin snips- things we can use to turn the trash into smaller
pieces, if necessary. We will talk about the basic functions of soil for the growth of plants, so students can
make informed choices on media components. Each student will pot up 6 plants in 6” pots. For 3 of them,
they use only their own trash plus some organic matter, supplied by the instructor. For the other 3, the
instructor will have prepared some recycled materials to use (styrofoam peanuts, crushed glass, maybe
recycled tires in small bits . . . things that have actually been used in commercial applications) plus some
organic material.
Pot #1
own trash with no organic matter
Pot #2
own trash plus 20% organic matter
Pot #3
own trash plus 60% organic matter
Pot #4
supplied recycled materials with no organic matter
Pot #5
supplied recycled materials plus 20% organic matter
Pot #6
supplied recycled materials plus 60% organic matter
The instructor will supply the plants- one species, something common and easy to grow. We will put all the
pots in the greenhouse so they get uniformly watered. We will monitor them for
survivability/growth/performance.
Table 3c. Student Assessment
Student assessment should be closely aligned with each learning objective. Try to ensure that students demonstrate
active use of new knowledge by solving problems, making critical decisions, or creating new information or
products from what they learn. Assessment of new skills may require only a few new test questions or they might
require direct observation of new tasks or collaborative work. To make your observations consistent and accurate,
you may wish to create a checklist or rubric that enables you to assign ratings of student performance (e.g.,
excellent, good, acceptable, poor).
Describe assessment methods to determine achievement of specific learning objectives.
This will be included in the written final exam, but will also be a part of the class discussions.
1
In-class participation will be a major part of their grade in this course, and I will use a rubric
Summer Sustainability Institute Template Description: STTE, NSF Project No. 0812576, J. Mattoon, External Evaluator, and Kim Smith, SSI Training
Coordinator, July, 2010.
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3
4
5
6
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to rate each student for each class period. Items included in the rubric will be
1. Attendance- yes or no
2. Verbal participation and whether it was a in the form of questions or opinions or
answers
3. For activity days, did the student complete the activity?4. Anything above and beyond
For their assignment, they will need to record these detailed sensory observations on paper to
turn in. There will be a couple of exercises in class where we practice using that mode of input
to deduce information about a location or situation. Perhaps we will repeat these exercises in
class at the end of the term to see if their abilities have gotten better. This will likely not be
very testable on the final exam.
They will be assessed on this in 3 ways:
1. final exam test questions
2. class discussions- see #1 above for grading rubric
3. activity sheets/scavenger hunts they will fill out on tours to sites using conventional
practices
Assessed via test questions and class discussions and participation in activities around this
topic.
Assessment will occur by 2 major activities- one we do together in class and one they do on
their own. For the class activity, see #4 in the teaching methods section. The take-home activity
will be to build a living wall section with only reclaimed materials. Their wall will be graded on
a rubric of parameters, given ahead of time, including
-does their wall meet functional requirements- i.e. hold plants and soil, etc?
- right size?
-only reclaimed material use?
-aesthetics consideration?
-inferred long-term performance
I can’t really grade them on actual long-term performance/sustainability of their wall, but I
can infer thru common sense/best professional/horticultural judgement.
This will most likely be assessed thru an activity or an assignment where students will be
creating a conventional energy budget (or we do this part in class together) and then an
alternative scenario budget. There will also be some related exam questions.
Students will be divided into teams and will need to prepare arguments for their solution. We
will set up a mock debate/competition, hopefully with a third party arbitrator. Students will
each be assigned a role/profession to play. The class participation rubric will apply. Exam
questions will also be used.
Scenario-based exam questions will be used. This will also be assessed thru class participation
in integrated/active problem solving scenarios.
See #1 under Teaching Methods.
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Students will apply a check-list to an integrated scenario, both in groups in class and
individually, as assignments and exam questions.
How are these methods different than previous methods used in your course(s)?
Most courses, including my previous courses, have relied almost exclusively on powerpoint lectures with an
occasional field trip. The new methods will use a variety of activities and active class discussions with no
powerpoints. Videos and other lecture styles will be included.
Summer Sustainability Institute Template Description: STTE, NSF Project No. 0812576, J. Mattoon, External Evaluator, and Kim Smith, SSI Training
Coordinator, July, 2010.
Section IV: Curriculum Revision Plan Feedback
How has the SSI shaped your curriculum revision process?
I have gained a lot of new ideas for lesson activities and discussion styles. And I have a lot of new resources at my
fingertips for future changes. Almost all the curriculum I’m teaching now is new, so this isn’t so much a revision
process for me.
How can the curriculum revision process be improved?
Parts of this revision process fit the format of my institution’s curriculum approval process and parts do not. And
either way, the formal course outline that must be approved before offering a new or revised course is so general
that it would not reflect what I gained from the SSI. The meat of this training for me is in the detailed lesson plans I
prepare, just for me, to teach each class. I think it would be more valuable if the SSI required each participant to
write up 4-6 detailed lesson plans where one of the questions is “which courses could this lesson be applied to, even
if your institution doesn’t teach all of them?” Most lessons will fit in many courses, and be useful to others that
way. This would indirectly address the teaching methods section and student objectives in a more meaningful way
for me.
What are the major challenges in revising your course(s)?
Helping students have the same access to information that I have had. For example, I would really like to take them
to tour Solar World, but I can’t do that in our class time. How else can they access the same information . . . . or
rather, the same experience?
What resources do you need to help your students reach their learning objectives?
Most of my lessons are designed to only need easily obtained and inexpensive materials, which are either supplied
by students or the department. However, one thing I really need is a list of sites/tours/organizations that I can reach
easily in the Salem area within a 2-hour class period field trip. Most of the resources/sites presented by SSI and also
those I am most familiar with personally are Portland-based.
Summer Sustainability Institute Template Description: STTE, NSF Project No. 0812576, J. Mattoon, External Evaluator, and Kim Smith, SSI Training Coordinator, July, 2010.
Verbs for Measurable Learning Objectives
add
alter
analyze
apply
arrange
articulate
assemble
build
calculate
calibrate
categorize
chart
check
choose
classify
collect
combine
communicate
compare
compile
complete
chart
compute
conduct
connect
construct
contrast
convert
coordinate
correct
criticize
critique
decrease
defend
define
demonstrate
derive
describe
design
designate
detect
develop
diagram
differentiate
discriminate
dissect
distinguish
distribute
divide
document
draw
duplicate
eliminate
employ
estimate
evaluate
execute
expand
explain
express
extend
extract
extrapolate
find
finish
formulate
generate
group
guide
identify
illustrate
include
increase
indicate
insert
integrate
isolate
label
list
locate
manipulate
map
mark
match
measure
modify
name
number
order
organize
outline
paraphrase
perform
place
plan
plot
position
predict
prepare
present
propose
prove
provide
rearrange
recall
reconstruct
regroup
relate
remove
reorganize
rephrase
replace
report
reproduce
restate
restructure
score
select
show
signify
sketch
Recommendations for Setting Learning Objectives and Planning Student Assessment
Understanding: It is challenging to assess if students
“understand” a particular concept or principle, so try to
create a task that will verify their understanding.
Students should be able to demonstrate their capability to
use new knowledge to make decisions or communicate
information to others. Some examples: apply a principle
in a particular context, find a solution to a problem,
compare and contrast ideas, assess a sustainability plan or
practice, or perform a new skill and explain why it is
important.
Standards: If you are using
established industry or educational
standards, please list them as part of
your learning objectives. Include a
reference citation (publication or
Internet URL) where the standards
may be found.
Quality and Value of
Assessment: Regardless of
your chosen method for
measuring student learning, try
to insure your outcomes can be
measured. Use specific criteria
to grade students, while
providing feedback that
supports improvement.
New Teaching Methods and Strategies: You may
decide to use a new teaching method or change your
student learning environment as a result of your SSI
experience. New methods can be simple or complex,
but consider the purpose and how best to integrate the
method(s) into your course.
solve
sort
state
structure
suggest
summarize
support
translate
troubleshoot
verify
write