| Overall Rating | Silver |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 48.87 |
| Liaison | Amy Parrish |
| Submission Date | July 16, 2021 |
Boise State University
AC-7: Incentives for Developing Courses
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Kat
Davis Sustainability Coordinator Campus Sustainability |
Does the institution have an ongoing program that offers incentives for academic staff in multiple disciplines or departments to develop new sustainability courses and/or incorporate sustainability into existing courses? :
A brief description of the incentive program(s):
The College of Innovation and Design (CID) is about nurturing new ideas – born out of the best faculty, student, and community input to ensure the growth and value of a Boise State education. From a cross-disciplinary major to new courses designed to build skills employers demand to re-imagining the future of a university, CID is looking to incubate the most innovative and exciting ideas facing Boise State and higher education today. College of Innovation and Design provides incentives and resources for faculty from different disciplines to work together to solve a problem that prioritized innovation and incorporates aspects of social, environmental, and economic impacts of the solutions each CID program tackles. - https://www.boisestate.edu/cid/
Vertically Integrated Projects, or VIP, is a program within the College of Innovation and Design created to increase student access to hands-on learning with faculty mentors and diverse teams. - https://www.boisestate.edu/vip/
Faculty working on long-term projects that need students from multiple disciplines and skill areas are invited to create a VIP course. Students are then able to join their team and earn 1-2 credits in a semester at the 200, 400, or 500 level.
Each VIP project is set up as a unique section of VIP 200 (lower division), VIP 400 (upper division), and VIP 500 (graduate).
Benefits to students:
Participating in project based learning prepares students for the work world of interdisciplinary teams working on complex problems, where they build skills and responsibilities over time. Students have the opportunity for leadership training and experience, as well as team building and project management skills. Students contribute to the project’s success by exploring different roles on the team depending on what professional and technical skills (e.g., lab skills, scientific method application) they wish to grow. At the heart of VIP is the faculty mentorship, which is one of the most powerful and proven factors in student success after graduation.
Benefits to Faculty:
Through VIP participating faculty are able to integrate their teaching, research, and service activities, while also supporting the scalability and longevity of their research endeavors. Credit for teaching hours and financial incentives for student credit hours varies by department. The College of Innovation and Design provides support to faculty in developing plans, recruitment, forms and materials, and connecting with other VIP instructors.
Each VIP program considers the human, environmental, and economic impacts of the problem they pursue, with heavy consideration of diversity, affordability, and accessibility for underserved populations as well as waste streams and efficiency.
Specifically, the Human-Environmental Systems VIP program focus on tackling projects that specifically target sustainable solutions and work to connect students with interdisciplinary student teams to interdisciplinary faculty committees to lead those projects. https://www.boisestate.edu/vip/environmental-sustainability/
A brief description of the incentives that academic staff who participate in the program(s) receive:
In 2020, the VIP program added 7 new projects with 16 faculty from the College of Arts & Sciences, College of Innovation and Design, College of Engineering, and College of Health Sciences.
Specifically in the Human-Environmental Systems program, in 2020 this program added two new faculty and completed 61 peer-reviewed publications since 2017.
2020 College of Innovation and Design Annual Report: https://www.paperturn-view.com/college-of-innovation-design/cid-annual-report-2020?pid=MTA107444&p=19&v=1.1
Website URL where information about the incentives for developing sustainability course content is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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