California Polytechnic State University
AC-7: Incentives for Developing Courses

The Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology (CTLT) Sustainability Book Circles: Offered 2-3 times per year, the books are chosen to stimulate conversation about sustainability and garner interest in infusing sustainability learning opportunities across the curriculum. Participation in CTLT sustainability workshops (described below) has increase with the inclusion of book circle offerings. Circles have an average of 12-15 participants and are led by two facilitators drawn from the CTLT sustainability specialist, faculty fellows, and the campus sustainability coordinator. Books read in the past 12 months: Sustainability in Higher Education: Stories and Strategies for Transformation, G. Chase and P. Bartlett; Flourishing: a Frank Conversation about Sustainability, A. Hoffman and J. Ehrenfeld; Reframing the Curriculum: Design for Social Justice and Sustainability, S. Santone. CTLT Sustainability Course Redesign Retreat: Offered 1-2 time per year in the summer, this 3-day retreat is led by the CTLT sustainability specialist and a faculty fellow. Faculty who already include sustainability learning outcomes in their courses are guest presenters, as is the campus sustainability coordinator. Participants bring an existing course or particular unit within the course and revise it to include campus sustainability student learning outcomes. The workshop focuses on (further) educating instructors about the breadth of sustainability in terms of social, environmental and economical justice, while assisting them in building course goals and activities to increase students' sustainability literacies. Instructors leave the workshop with a foundation for redesigning their course/unit, and follow up with the CTLT sustainability specialist to complete it. They then complete the below workshop to submit their course for the campus Sustainability Catalog (SusCat) inclusion. CTLT Quick Qualify Workshop: Offered year-round as an online workshop, and by request as a 60 -90 minute face-to-face workshop or private consultation, this workshop assists instructor in the process of submitting their sustainability related or sustainability focused courses for inclusion in the SusCat. The online course is self-directed with facilitation by the CTLT sustainability specialist. Both formats include feedback from and followup by the CTLT specialist. Instructors are guided through a course assessment process using a rubric designed by the Academic Senate Sustainability Committee (ASSC), which includes an analysis of the course content and learning outcomes, a narrative memo to the ASSC, and completion of the request form. The CTLT specialist follows up with participants if the ASSC requests revisions. Upon approval, the course is listed in the online SusCat. CTLT Teaching Sustainability Community of Practice: Seperate from otehr CTLT groups, this is an ongoing community of practice that is most active during the academic year. All Cal Poly educators are welcome to participate. Participants collaborate on projects that explore methods and assess outcomes related to sustainability education across the curriculum. Findings are meant to support refined approaches to curriculum infusion, as well as scholarly work in the form of presentations and publications.

Book circles participants do not receive stipends, but do receive professional development credit in their evaluative processes CTLT Sustainability Course Redesign Retreat participants receive a $300 stipend upon completion of their redesign, and receive professional development credit in their evaluative processes CTLT Quick Qualify Workshop participants receive a $100 stipend upon completion of their SusCat submission, and receive professional development credit in their evaluative processes CTLT Teaching Sustainability Community of Practice do not receive a stipend, but do receive professional development credit in their evaluative processes and scholarship credit for publications and presentations that result from their participation.