Humber College
AC-7: Incentives for Developing Courses

At Humber College there is a variety of programs that incentivizes academic staff to develop new sustainability courses in the form of training. Humber College aims to increase sustainability as part of the Office of Sustainability’s strategic plan. Through training programs, Humber College provides capacity-building opportunities to help faculty implement sustainability through the increased transfer of knowledge and skills within the academic departments. Programs include;

Sustainability Faculty Champions Committee - A community of professors and instructors representing multiple academic faculties meets on a regular basis. They build capacity and drive pan-faculty initiatives to foster curriculum development, teaching and learning practices focused on sustainability.

The group of approximately 50 meets 2-3 times per semester. Meetings include professional development training – such as a guest speaker, webinar or literature discussion – and initiative planning. The group’s goal is to provide knowledge and training on how to integrate sustainability and the Sustainability Developmental Goals into curriculum and the classroom. Additional training is available for direct modules to academic staff to ensure success of implementation and success metrics within the classroom. https://humber.ca/sustainability/teaching-learning-and-applied-research

Starting in 2019, The Faculty Sustainability Champions Committee hosted a variety of virtual workshops to build Humber’s toolkits for incorporating sustainability knowledge and practices into the classroom. During this workshop, all faculty members are welcome and are open to discuss the UN SDGs, social justice issues and the climate crises that has already been done in a classroom setting and learns ways faculty members can emphasize sustainability in the course curriculum. https://humber.ca/staff/events/faculty-sustainability-champions-group-community-practice

The Humber Learning Outcomes (HLO) framework is being used as a mechanism to incorporate sustainability across all program curricula. The HLO framework was announced in 2016, internally developed in 2017, approved by the senior leadership and the Board of Governors in 2018, and officially launched in March 2020. The HLO framework continues to advance a sustainability mindset within the academic community at Humber. Since 2017, the HLO team has worked with instructors from across all six academic faculties to develop strategies and best practices for the large-scale integration of sustainability across all program curricula, which began during the 2019-2020 school year. The HLO framework has also been used as a tool to engage faculty in capacity-building exercises, enabling them to confidently embody and embed sustainability into their curricula and classroom experiences.

Showcase is an annual internal staff and faculty conference that draws 400+ attendees from the Humber community including non-academic support staff. At least one sustainability knowledge workshop is run annually during 'Showcase' where the workshop focused on connecting staff and faculty with the natural environment, how sustainability connects to varied topics, what they can do, etc.

For example, a workshop was presented that focused on incorporating a sustainable mindset when developing Humber’s academic curriculum in our 2022 Showcase. This workshop invited the Humber community as an opportunity to connect with others who have attempted to incorporate the HLO mindsets into their curriculum, and to share stories including successes, challenges, concerns, and best practices. A list of other events/workshops demonstrated in our 2022 Showcase can be found here: https://humber.ca/innovativelearning/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Showcase-2022_Conference-Program-V6.pdf

Academic staff who participate in Humber's programs receive continued support and resources (including training) from the Humber Learning Outcomes (HLO) team and the Office of Sustainability Manager as they increase their own capacity to understand, teach and evaluate sustainability in their courses.

Faculty that show engagement in sustainability within the Faculty Champions group are eligible for course releases to assist the implementation of sustainability in faculty development through The Centre for Innovative Learning (CIL).

Additionally individuals who excel in implementing sustainability are eligible for a Sustainability Award. The award recognizes academic staff and faculty for the successful implementation of sustainability within their role at Humber.

All Humber/Guelph-Humber employees, having at least two (2) years full-time service, are eligible for this award. Employees may be nominated more than once but may not receive the award more than once in a three-year period. Individuals must be going beyond any initiatives/programs that the institution is already doing in this area. Criteria Individuals or groups nominated for this award will have demonstrated dedication to enhancing sustainability on campus, in the classroom, and/or within the community in support of our strategic direction for sustainability. For example:

- Initiation, support of, and/or significant involvement in activities or projects which promote sustainability on campus, in the classroom, and/or within the community
- Demonstrated environmental leadership (goes beyond expectations to support Humber’s sustainability goals), through the advancement of a collective commitment within their department, school or group towards improving sustainability (environmental/social/economic) performance and/or engagement
- The award can recognize the implementation of a program or initiative; a technical innovation; integration into curriculum that is effectively teaching and/or tackling a sustainability challenge; or demonstrating improved environmental, social, and economic performance Please note: Review of the nominations and selection of the recipient(s) of the award is made by the Sustainability Coordinating Committee and approved by the President.

Presentation Award recipients will receive the following:

- A plaque recognizing contributions to sustainability
- To recognize your contributions, a donation in the amount of $250 will be made to Humber’s Student Emergency Financial Support Bursary

More information about the Sustainability Awards along with the individual and group nomination forms through this link: https://humber.ca/hroe/oe/recognition-awards/employee-awards/humber-sustainability-award/

In 2021, members in the Two-Eyed Land-Based Play and Co-Learning Steering Committee were recognized for their work in building the importance and benefits of outdoor play for holistic child development in Humber’s Early Child Education (ECE) program. In collaboration with Humber Indigenous Education and Engagement, the Humber Arboretum, and the Humber Child Development Centre, the committee implemented an initiative that explores co-learning on and from the land, that embraces both Indigenous and non-Indigenous perspectives of being, knowing, and doing which ultimately, demonstrates environmental leadership in the classroom and in the community. More details on award recipient can be accessed here: https://humber.ca/hroe/oe/recognition-awards/award-recipients/award-recipients-2021/humber-sustainability-award-winners/

This data was collected from the Humber Learning Outcomes team.