| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 81.96 |
| Liaison | Lindsey Lyons |
| Submission Date | March 1, 2024 |
Dickinson College
AC-6: Sustainability Literacy Assessment
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
4.00 / 4.00 |
Neil
Leary Director Center for Sustainability Education |
Does the institution conduct an assessment of the sustainability literacy of its students?:
Which of the following best describes the literacy assessment? The assessment is administered to::
Which of the following best describes the structure of the assessment? The assessment is administered as a::
A copy of the questions included in the sustainability literacy assessment(s):
A list or sample of the questions included in the sustainability literacy assessment or the website URL where the assessment tool may be found:
Upon completion of the literacy survey, respondents are directed to a webpage with the questions, correct answers, and links to sources of information to learn about each question topic. See https://www.dickinson.edu/info/20052/sustainability/3623/sustainability_knowledge_assessment
A brief description of how the literacy assessment was developed and/or when it was adopted:
The literacy assessment questions were developed in spring 2023 by the Center for Sustainability Education, drawing from earlier assessment surveys and revising them with input from its Steering Committee to focus on four sustainability competencies: futures thinking, systems thinking, values thinking, and strategic thinking. The earlier version of the sustainability literacy survey was administered in spring 2018 and spring 2019 and was developed by reviewing surveys used by other institutions and relevant literature and inviting input from students, recent alumni, faculty with expertise in survey design, CSE steering committee members, the President's Commission on Environmental Sustainability, and the Office of Institutional Effectiveness.
A brief description of how a representative sample was reached (if applicable) and how the assessment(s) were administered :
The survey of sustainability literacy was administered to a representative sample of 1,000 students in April 2023, representing 47% of all matriculated students at the college. The sample was selected by Dickinson's Office of Institutional Effectiveness and included 250 first-year students, 250 sophomores, 250 juniors, and 250 seniors. 238 students completed the survey, for a response rate of 23.8%. This includes 42 first-year students, 68 sophomores, 65 juniors, and 62 seniors. 24 of the students had not completed a sustainability course at the time the survey was administered, 63 had completed one sustainability course, 76 had completed two to three sustainability courses, and 75 had completed four or more sustainability courses.
The survey was administered online using Qualtrics. The sample of 1000 students were sent an email by Dickinson's Office of Institutional Effectiveness inviting them to participate in the survey. Students were offered entry into a drawing for four $35 gift cards as an incentive to respond to the survey. The survey was open for two weeks. Two reminder emails were sent during the survey period to students who had not responded yet.
Comparisons across the class years provide pre- and post-assessment data of sustainability literacy near the end of students' first, sophomore, junior, and senior years of undergraduate studies at Dickinson. Comparisons are also made for students who had not completed any sustainability courses and students who had completed 1, 2 to 3, and 4 or more sustainability courses. These comparisons allow us to assess learning that accumulates from one year to the next and learning that accumulates as students take more sustainability courses.
A brief summary of results from the literacy assessment(s):
A summary of the assessment results is available online: https://www.dickinson.edu/info/20052/sustainability/4134/sustainability_literacy_and_culture
Website URL where information about the sustainability literacy assessment is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.