| Overall Rating | Platinum |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 86.18 |
| Liaison | Chris Adam |
| Submission Date | Dec. 30, 2024 |
Dawson College
AC-7: Incentives for Developing Courses
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Chris
Adam Coordinator Sustainability Office |
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):
Release time is given to teachers by administration to develop sustainability-related courses.
Recent examples of new courses at Dawson are:
1. Ecological landscaping course that focuses on maintaining and creating biodiversity areas on campus - This was offered during the last three semesters 2022-2024.
2. Teacher release time to develop an Environment and Sustainability Certificate course structure.
3. Community Recreation & Leadership Training program pre-outdoor education intensive course visit to facilities with students.
4. Biology introduces Sustainable happiness concept in its Biology of Sustainability class - supported by annual development funds from the curriculum development fund of the Sustainability Office.
5. Office of Academic development offers individual help to teacher/student projects that integrate sustainability into their coursework (application process)and meet College sustainability goals within the strategic plan.
A brief description of the incentives that academic staff who participate in the program(s) receive:
Full release from teaching 1-2 course sections to work on special sustainability projects are given yearly.
Student Success Action Program - a college bank of funds that can be applied for, including for sustainability-related projects. All applications to this fund have a sustainability event guideline made available and are guided to the sustainability website for more information. Preference is given for applications that integrate the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Human Resources financially supports workshops that enrich the learning experience and skills of teachers, including for sustainability-specific content that can be transferred to the classroom.
The Sustainability Office has operational funds for equipment and instructional manuals that specifically help create action-based projects on campus and coordinates various grants and partnerships that can also benefit teachers through funding, equipment and training opportunities. About 20% of the Sustainability Office budget is allocated to helping teachers integrate sustainability topics into their curricula. The Dawson Foundation also has a Living Campus fund that is specifically developed and managed to help fund sustainability projects.
Projects:
Bioretention - raised wetland
Hugel Garden - beetle sancuary
Ecological Peace Garden maintenance
Bat research on campus
1000 species attracted and identified on campus
Optional Fields
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The Dawson Foundation supported a Sustainable Happiness Journal Group project and Campus Biodiversity projects in 2023. Both are student driven projects that will involve 100s of students.
SSAP - Student Success Action Projects funds have criteria for meeting sustainability and graduate profile objectives.
Examples of SSAP - Sustainability related projects:
https://www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/ssap/?s=sustainability&sentence=1
Office of Academic Development supports teachers with grant writing, research resource access, and library services for any teacher involved in sustainability research. They also have pedagogical counsellors that help integrate sustainability themes into program revisions and individual course projects.
https://www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca/research/research-and-sustainability-at-dawson/
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