Dawson College
AC-2: Learning Outcomes

Dawson's mission, vision statement and strategic plan explicitly refer to sustainability:
Mission:
Educate a diverse population of students through transformative and innovative learning activities;
Engage learners and empower them to become active, responsible citizens;
Enrich society by offering life-long learning opportunities, cultivating partnerships and contributing to a peaceful and sustainable future.
Vision/values statement:
Excellence: We seek to challenge our students and educate them to the highest standards. To that end, we commit ourselves to providing excellent teaching, programs and services that are attained through self-reflection, evaluation and evidence-based inquiry.
Collaboration: Recognizing that support for student learning engages us in diverse and multiple ways, we value a community in which our members feel encouraged to share their experiences, insights, knowledge and skills so as to nourish and enrich the learning environment. We affirm that the College, as a community, is strengthened by the participation and representation of all its members in its governance.
Innovation and Creativity: We promote innovation and creativity that acknowledge both success and failure and build upon authentic, rich and dynamic learning experiences, inside and outside the classroom, to provide cutting-edge pedagogical and technological approaches to teaching and learning.
Well-Being for All: We cultivate a healthy and inclusive learning and working environment in which all members of our community feel respected, valued and supported in the pursuit of their personal and professional goals. We aim to promote long-term health and well-being for all, sustainably.
Strategic Plan: GOAL # 7 BE A LEADING CANADIAN POST-SECONDARY INSTITUTION
IN PROMOTING AND PRACTISING SUSTAINABILITY IN ALL ITS ENDEAVOURS

All programs and program committees refer to the college graduate profile and design course content with the graduate profile in mind:
Graduate profile: https://www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/strategic-plan/the-dawson-graduate-profile/
Learning to learn:
Students will become active and engaged participants in their own learning through the effective use of learning and self-motivation strategies to enable them to achieve desired educational results.
Mastery of program competencies:
Students will demonstrate the skills, knowledge and attitudes as expressed in the competencies of their program.
Communication:
Students will demonstrate effective knowledge and skills in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and the presentation and delivery of information – using a variety of platforms including relevant software applications – in English and French.
Critical thinking, problem-solving skills and creativity
Students will be able to collect, organise and evaluate information from a variety of sources including electronic and web-based sources, and analyse and synthesise relevant information to draw informed conclusions and make judgments. Students will develop problem-solving skills in which they implement a strategy to answer an open-ended question or achieve a desired outcome. Students will demonstrate creative thinking by combining ideas or producing works in original ways.
Teamwork and leadership skills:
Students will know how to collaborate with others, face-to-face and virtually, toward the setting of goals and priorities and implementing the means to achieve them. Students will learn to manage interpersonal relationships, resolve conflicts and assume responsibility for their own actions.
Quantitative literacy:
Students will be at ease in working with, understanding and presenting numerical data using relevant software applications and possess the ability to reason and solve quantitative problems from a wide array of authentic contexts and everyday situations.
Health and well-being:
Students will understand lifestyle choices that contribute to sustained health and well-being.
Ethical understanding and behaviour
Students will practise academic integrity and demonstrate ethical behaviour appropriate to citizenship in a democratic society.
Social responsibility and community engagement:
Students will develop an informed concern for the larger good, appreciate social and cultural diversity, respect the values of others and act responsibly towards the environment. Students will be encouraged to make a difference in the quality of life of their communities through both political and non-political processes.
All Dawson students must take 3 levels of Humanities courses to graduate with the following objectives:
Level 1: Students learn to analyze the arguments of others and to construct their own thoughtful arguments in response.
Level 2: Tradition, education, religion, political structure, economics, gender and historical context all contribute to the construction of an outlook on the world. Moreover, they learn that a world view is a human creation and therefore that we are not hapless victims of the world we find ourselves in, but rather that we give shape to our world.
Level 3: In the Applied Ethics class, students consolidate their critical power of argument and realization of their ability to effect change in an exploration of their responsibilities to do so. They will study ethical theories, identify conflicts in values, analyze ethical issues pertinent to their program and formulate solutions to ethical problems. Here the humanistic values of thoughtful reasoning, tolerance and open mindedness are once again applied to practical issues and problems.

Please refer to AC-2 tab in attached excel document titled Dawson AASHE AC-2 Final.
Examples: The following list are programs, amongst many, that have courses specifically focused on sustainability.
Community Recreation & Leadership Training - Environmental Issues in Environmental Education; Environmental Leadership Experience
Biology - Biology of Sustainability
Psychology - Sustainable Happiness as a concept integrated into program at two course levels demonstrating how sustainability and well-being for all relates to positive psychology
Interior Design - covers biophilic design and sustainable products
Industrial Design - Courses and projects focus on sustainable product design and production
Travel & Tourism - Reviews how travel influences society, the environment and particularly the sex trade
North-South Studies - Reviews sustainability through the lens of Southern countries and visits Cuba or Nicaragua and has students "live the learning"
Biomedical Laboratory Technology - Teaches safety practices for people and the environment
Illustration & Design - A course dedicated to sustainable production
Civil Engineering technology - A course on environmental issues/concerns

AC-2 Methodology & Conclusion

Sustainability commitments of Dawson College to advance well-being for all

• Ecological Peace Garden, 2007
• Talloires declaration, 2009
• AASHE, 2008
• Talloires Declaration, 2009
• CEGEP VERT, 2010
• Sustainability Plan linked to Strategic Plan (2016-21)
• Higher Education Sustainability Initiative UN, 2019
• Dawson College Board of Governors Declares Dawson Carbon Neutral Forever, 2019
• Global Climate Letter, 2020
More about Dawson College history
Methodology

Step 1 : AC- 2 was divided in 6 sections
Section 1 (S1): List of 26 Programs & Profiles with the number of student enrolled in Fall 2020 (26 programs + one area of study = First Peoples College Transition Program-Journeys)
Section 2 (S2): List of Sustainability Outcomes by Program & Profiles
Section 3 (S3): Programs & Profiles Sustainability Outcomes listed under 17 UN SDGs
Section 4 (S4): Programs & Profiles Sustainability Outcomes listed under AASHE “outcome list”
Section 5 (S5): Programs & Profiles Sustainability Outcomes listed under Montreal’s strategic
orientation Community Sustainable Development Plan
Section 6 (S6): Totals

Step 2: All the Programs & Profiles (PP) are listed (S1) with a description, every PP that involves a sustainability outcome according with UN 17 SDGs, AASHE´s “outcome list”, or foster Montreal´s sustainability plan has a hyperlink (when S2 appears in the excel document highlighted in yellow, click the hyperlink to go to S2)

Step 3: In (S2) we have all the information for courses, activities, certificates, and exhibits to demonstrate how the PP facilitate, foster or contribute to SDGs from an individual to community level; only the main sustainability courses are included in (S2).

Step 4: Lists of courses & activities that involve sustainability outcomes were classified under each SDG (S3), AASHE´s “outcome list” (S4), and Montreal´s Sustainability Plan (S5).

Step 5: Finally, in (S6) the total of student enrolled in programs with at least one sustainability outcome (the main totals are presented in Table 1).

In addition, we included 4 pie charts in the excel document (Pie Charts tab)
1. Percentage of outcomes by SDGs
2. Percentage of outcomes by AASHE “outcome list”
3. Percentage of outcomes by Montréal´s Sustainability Plan
4. Percentage of outcomes according to the UN 5Ps (People, Prosperity, Planet, Peace, Partnership)

Conclusion
AASHE’s AC-2 indicator works as a procedure to integrate our programs of study to a monitoring and mapping tool (Excel sheet). It works in three different levels: global (SDGs), regional (AASHEs outcomes), and local (Montréal’s Sustainability Plan), along with the 5Ps model that allows us to define actions in the future and indentify areas of opportunity to strength both the knowledge of sustainability and awareness of sustainability challenges in a global context. This tool aims to facilitate the comprehension of the interaction of economic, environmental, and social perspectives in order to foster students and faculty responsibility towards present and future generations.
Findings:
1. At least 60% (this includes 10% degree of conformity with AASHE standards) of the students receive knowledge related to sustainability that provides comprehension of the sustainability challenges and their role to protect the environment, work to build an inclusive community, and foster a better quality of life and well-being.
2. Correlating the pie charts below we can assume the following statements:
I. Dawson College has integrated environmental issues and sustainability into academic and extra-curricular activities as committed in the Strategic Plan 2016-2021.
II. Dawson College provides both the knowledge, and hands on experience to the students to indentify, and act towards sustainability challenges in personal and professional roles.
III. According to pie charts almost every SDG is covered by half of the programs, and is more focused in People and Planet (according to 5P Model).
3. Under a Plan-Do-Check- Act (PDCA) process, in order to confirm finding 1, it would be useful to implement a Sustainability Literacy Assessment for Students & Faculty that allows us to verify that the outputs (in terms of actions, and knowledge application) correspond to the inputs (course concepts defined in the courses outlines), and suggest the topics faculty could include in their course outlines related to sustainability.
4. SDG7 is the only goal with no evidence of inclusion either as an outcome or as a specific objective in the courses outlines. During the inventory of courses we found two activities related to research for wind turbines (https://www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/research/expertise/wind-turbines/), and a project in the power electronics course (243-416-DW) that implemented a radio station in Mexico (https://www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/news/projects/electro-tech-students-power-new-community-radio-station-in-mexico/)
5. The main area of opportunity is to create a platform where the Dawson community can explore how the courses, certificates, programs, profiles, curricular activities connect with sustainability. The tables, charts, and documents presented in AC-2 were developed to serve this purpose.
6. Finally, in order to apply all the actions mentioned below, Dawson College should find ways to increase collaboration at a local level during the implementation and development phases of the upcoming Sustainability Plan of Montréal.

With Dawson's clear mission, values statement, strategic plan and graduate profile mentioning sustainability outright or referring to major interacting components of sustainability (the Dawson community interchanges the word sustainability and Well-Being for All as having similar meanings), it has permeated through the academic sector in planning and implementation processes. There is much room for improvement, but in reviewing registrar's information for graduation rates in each program with the consultant's data sheet demonstrating the Dawson programs that contain at least one sustainability-focused course offered (sustainability outcomes were identified), we could come up with a solid representation of graduates that were exposed to sustainability content. Additionally, all graduates from all disciplines have taken the required 3 levels of humanities courses and have gone through a program guided by the Dawson graduate profile. For this reason, and after confirming with the Social Science Chair, we feel comfortable saying 65.17% of Dawson graduates have taken sustainability-focused courses.
Reference courses were identified for sustainability focused or sustainability-related courses based on AASHE AC-1 STARS (2.1) definitions.
Fall and winter program registration statistics were obtained from the Dawson registrar's office. Graduation rates per program obtained from the Dawson Quality Assurance & Planning Office.