George Washington University
AC-7: Incentives for Developing Courses

Through the outreach efforts of the Sustainability Collaborative, a number of faculty have included sustainability content in their courses. Specifically, the Senior Program Associate and the Director of the Sustainability Minor conduct frequent outreach to faculty across the university to discuss sustainability in the curriculum. The Executive Director of Sustainability hosts faculty meetings each semester to promote cross-disciplinary relationships and encourage sustainability content in a myriad of classroom contexts.

The GW Library hosts an annual Teaching Day to host discussions on the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning from a faculty poster session to an interactive keynote session. Dr. Lisa Benton-Short, Senior Faculty Fellow with the Sustainability Collaborative, has presented at Teaching Day on various ways that faculty can bring sustainability material into their curriculums. The Course Design Institute (CDI) is a “bootcamp” style program that guides faculty through the design of a new course or the re-design an existing one in a facilitated, supported environment. Participants experience the iterative, dynamic, and scholarly process of learning-focused course design and the benefits of active learning. All GW faculty members are invited to apply. The time commitment is an intensive 4.5 days and $500 stipends are awarded upon successful completion.CDI has proven relevant to any teaching mode.Sustainability faculty, including Dr. Tara Scully, lead professor of the Introduction to Sustainability course, have participated in the CDI program. The Sustainability Collaborative identifies resources for faculty to incorporate into their curriculum for faculty who are interested in sustainability but not sure how to proceed.