University of Minnesota, Crookston
AC-1: Academic Courses

Faculty and instructors were sent a survey to collect information about courses offered over the last three academic years (Fall 2020 to Summer 2023). The survey asked professors if the course covered any Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and if so, which ones, and to describe how they were addressed. Professors were then asked to approximate the percentage of course time dedicated to the SDGs as a range (1-25%, 26-50%, 51-75%, or 76-100%). If at least 51% of the course was focused on 2 or more SDGs, the course was labeled sustainability-focused. If at least 26% of the course was spent on 1 SDG or the course included 2 or more SDGs for 1-50% of the time, the course was labeled sustainability-inclusive. If no SDGs were involved in the course, only 1 SDG was included for at most 25% of the course, or the professor did not respond, the course was labeled as neither. The criteria described were discussed with a committee of faculty members representing each of the four departments. The sensitivity of the analysis of the criteria was also reviewed along with a manual review of the courses and their justification to ensure they met the STARS definition. This included confirming that all Liberal Education Goal Area 10: People and the Environment courses were labeled sustainability focused or inclusive. Any courses with a limited justification were categorized as neither. The course description from the registrar was also reviewed and a limited number of courses were reccategorized based on that review.  Individual sections were treated as their own course and may have different codes based on the professor. For courses where some sections received assignments and others did not, we applied the categorical designation from the professor(s) that did respond to the other course sections. If there was a misalignment between professors’ responses, the designation within the majority (either in number of professors or number of sections) was applied to the courses without a designation. For example, if two instructors declared the course as sustainability-inclusive but one professor declared it as neither, the sections of instructors who did not fill out the survey were labeled sustainability-inclusive. If there was a tie (two instructors declared the course as sustainability-inclusive and two professors declared it as neither) the unrecorded sections were labeled as the result of the professors who taught the most sections. When the majority of the professors did not respond (i.e. composition I and II), only the sections with faculty input were coded. 

The course inventory was modified to exclude individual course studies (practicums, student teaching, internships) and College in High School. Labs were considered part of the course.

All 4 academic departments are listed as offering sustainability-focused courses. Documentation for this is also provided in the attached. 

Documentation supporting the above process is provided in the attached excel.