| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 75.40 |
| Liaison | Mary-Lee Townsend |
| Submission Date | Jan. 16, 2025 |
Western University
AC-5: Sustainability Literacy Assessment
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
3.33 / 4.00 |
5.1 Sustainability literacy assessment design and administration
Narrative and/or website URL providing an overview of of the instruments/tools used to assess sustainability literacy:
- The "Sustainability Pulse Survey" has been sent out to the campus community on an annual basis since 2020. The latest Survey was administered from October 2, 2023 - November 3, 2023.
Description of the institution’s recent sustainability literacy assessment findings and any notable trends:
The most recent sustainability literacy assessment at Western had great participation with over 3,100 respondents representing students at all levels as well as faculty and staff. All faculties and affiliates were also represented in the survey respondents. This years survey was designed to assess general sustainabilty knowledge/literacy, assess campus specific sustainability knowledge, gauge sentiment towards Western's programs and goals and to gather feedback from the community.
In general the survey showed and increased level of general sustainabilty knowledge/literacy compared to previous assessements, but it identified opportunities for further education and awareness 1) food waste; 2) waste management and 3) the carbon intensity of the Ontario Electrical Grid.
In relation to Western University campus specific knowledge, there was the highest awareness for the availiability of bike lockers and shelters, and Western's Deep Energy Retrofit program was least well-known. Insights were also gained with repect to timing and scheduling of sustainabilty events, to encourage more participation.
Were academic staff engaged in sustainability education at the institution involved in developing and/or adopting the methodologies used to assess sustainability literacy?:
Description of the process through which academic staff were involved in developing and/or adopting the methodologies used to assess sustainability literacy:
Are the literacy assessments designed and administered in such a way that the results can be used to evaluate the success of the institution’s sustainability education initiatives?:
Description of how the design and administration of the sustainability literacy assessments supports the evaluation of the success of the institution’s sustainability education initiatives:
- Each year the Survey has been distributed via Western University's survey system, Qualtrics. Qualtrics has "Data & Analysis", "Results", and "Reports" tools to analyze and evaluate the success of Western's sustainability education initiatives.
The Reporting Tool will automatically calculate the following figure:
5.2 Percentage of students assessed for sustainability literacy
Description of the process used to measure or estimate the percentage of students assessed for sustainability literacy:
The literacy survey was sent out to the entire student body and the respondents to the literacy survey can be considered a Representative Sample of the overall student population (ie. the % of undergrad students that participated in the survey were representative of the overall student population.
The Reporting Tool will automatically calculate the following figure:
Optional documentation
Additional documentation for this credit:
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.