| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 79.01 |
| Liaison | Lindsay Walker |
| Submission Date | Feb. 14, 2023 |
Humber College
EN-6: Assessing Sustainability Culture
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
0.50 / 1.00 |
Lindsay
Walker Sustainability Manager Facilities Management |
Does the institution conduct an assessment of sustainability culture?:
Which of the following best describes the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered to::
Which of the following best describes the structure of the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered::
A brief description of how and when the cultural assessment(s) were developed and/or adopted:
The sustainability cultural assessment was developed in conjunction with the SLA by the Sustainability Office and the Humber Learning Outcomes team. We researched what other institutions had done and reflected on our goals for the next few years and how we would measure that using sustainability culture. We focused on attitude, behavior and perceptions and built a survey that can help us measure the sustainability culture in Humber students overtime.
A copy or sample of the questions related to sustainability culture:
A sample of the questions related to sustainability culture or the website URL where the assessment tool is available:
Uploaded the cultural assessment questions.
A brief description of how representative samples were reached (if applicable) and how the cultural assessment is administered:
There are two surveys that are administered twice every academic year: in September (pre) and in April (post). Our first post survey was administered in September 2020 to a random sample of diploma students (predominant student body). All diploma students must take a class of WRIT100 or ESOL100 in their first semester, so a random subset of 80 of those classes were chosen in which we posted digital announcements recruiting participants.
For the post survey in April, we are choosing a capstone project (final year) class form each of the 78 diploma programs, and following the same announcement procedure from the pre-survey. Since every single final year class will get an announcement, this sample is representative. Both samples was representative as it was a random sample and every student had an equal chance of participating in the survey.
Pre and post surveys will be done every year to monitor the difference in literacy when the same cohort of students are starting and finishing their program, as well as to see the change in literacy level in all students over time.
A brief summary of results from the cultural assessment:
Based on the cultural assessment conducted in Septmeber 2020 and March 2021, the overall results showed that partipants feel strongly about sustainability and related issues with a general increase of participants selecting “Strongly Agree” or “Always” to statements regarding their view on sustainable values and habits.
The following are examples of the survey results:
- On a scale of 1-5, 1 being not at all and 5 being extremely, the average result was a 4 when asked “how sustainability is important to you” for both pre-and post-surveys.
- There was an 3.76% increase of students that strongly agreed that it is important to live in a way that minimizes my environmental impact with 45.45% of students strongly agreeing in 2021 and 41.69% of students answered "strongly agreed in 2020.
- In the self-evaluation of waste-sorting abilities, 43% of both pre and post groups responded that they were able to always able to sort waste ‘correctly’
- There was a 10% increase of students strongly agreeing to choosing sustainable methods of transportation (i.e., transit, carpool, bike) over single-occupancy vehicles.
-There was a 5% increase of students looking for locally grown, organic, or Fairtrade food when shopping.
The results of the pre and post cultural assessment indicate that students prioritize sustainable values and habits more than they did prior to their experience at Humber College.
Website URL where information about the assessment of sustainability culture 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.