PCC’s Summer Sustainability Institute 2010

Curriculum Revision Plan

With support from Portland Community College’s Sustainability Training for Technical Educators (STTE) grant, funded by the National Science Foundation, the Summer Sustainability Institute (SSI) offers high quality and up-to-date training to help instructors infuse sustainability into their courses. The SSI is designed to support faculty in revising their curriculum to integrate current sustainability concepts, theories, practices, and policies to help prepare students for careers in green building design, construction and maintenance.

Section I: Curriculum Revision Plan Objectives

The SSI Curriculum Revision Plan helps guide participants’ development of new and/or revised course curriculum, with the following objectives:

  • Identify how faculty will integrate their SSI experiences and new knowledge into their course curriculum.
  • Align course revisions with current sustainability concepts, theories, practices, and policies.
  • Document changes and/or additions instructors intend to make in their courses or teaching practices.
  • Determine the impact that SSI participants expect from their course revisions. Will students:
  • Develop new knowledge and skills relative to sustainability practices?
  • Apply new knowledge and skills to their school or extracurricular projects?
  • Change their perceptions and/or choices of courses, degree programs, or careers?
  • Improve their awareness and knowledge of sustainability issues, principles and practices?
  • Change their attitudes toward sustainability principles and practices?
  • Ensure curriculum revision plans contain descriptions of essential elements for effective instruction, including:
  • Specific outcomes or skills that students will produce or demonstrate
  • Instructional formats to be used (lecture, hands-on learning, demo, etc.)
  • Instructional tools needed (multimedia, technology, equipment, materials, etc.)
  • Assessment plans to determine if students have achieved the set outcomes and skills (test, presentation, portfolio, observation by instructor, etc.)

The SSI Curriculum Revision Plan also seeks evaluation feedback, to assess participants’ curriculum revision experiences and to support continual improvement in course revision efforts. Please consider the following questions when developing your curriculum revision plan.

  • How has the SSI shaped your curriculum revision process?
  • How can the curriculum revision process be improved?
  • What are the major challenges in revising your course(s)?
  • What resources do you need to help your students reach their learning objectives?

Section II: Curriculum Revision Plan

Revision of at least one course is a requirement of the SSI program. The overall purpose of the Curriculum Revision Plan is to help you organize your ideas in a way that will facilitate integration of your sustainability training into your courses. Revisions should include some new content and instruction techniques.

You will have an opportunity to share your ideas with each other during the week, at the follow-up Summit on August 30, and via our web page at We request that you submit your completed Curriculum Revision Plan by August 30 to Kim Smith, the SSI Training Coordinator, at . Note that parts of your plan may be combined with other faculty input for use in evaluation reports, but names and other forms of identity will be removed to ensure anonymity. We appreciate all suggestions to help us improve the STTE SSI program.

Table 1. Course(s) to Revise

Identify the course(s) you plan to revise using knowledge and skills gained from the SSI.

College/School / Course Number & Title

Why did you choose this/these course(s) for revision?

Table 2. Impact of Curriculum Revisions on Students

Describe the type of impact you expect your curriculum revisions will have on your students.

Circle “Yes” or “No” for each type of impact. Then, briefly explain your expectations.

Will your course revisions help students:
Develop new knowledge and skills of sustainability principles and practices relevant to the course(s) and discipline? / Yes / No
Apply new knowledge and skills to their school or extracurricular projects? / Yes / No
Change their perceptions and/or choices of courses, degree programs, or careers? / Yes / No
Improve awareness and knowledge of broader sustainability issues within their communities and the world. / Yes / No
Change their attitudes toward sustainability principles and practices? / Yes / No
Be better qualified for jobs. / Yes / No
Other: Please describe. / Yes / No

Explain why you expect this/these impact(s) to occur.

Summer Sustainability Institute Template Description:STTE, NSF Project No. 0812576, J. Mattoon, External Evaluator, and Kim Smith, SSI Training Coordinator, July, 2010.

Section III: Curriculum Revision Description

Use the following guidelines and tables to identify the learning objectives and instruction techniques you plan to revise in your course(s). They are designed to help you organize your plan for adding content and/or new student learning activities to the course(s) you teach.

Please copy and paste additional tables, if needed for multiple courses.

Table 3a. Learning Objectives

New or revised learning objectives are essential for effective curriculum revisions. Write student learning objectives that describe exactly what you expect students to be able to do related to sustainability after taking your course. Writing these as measurable actions, using action verbs, rather than in general terms like “understand” (which is hard to assess) is important. Reference the Verbs for Measurable Learning Objectives (at the end of this document) for help in setting specific outcomes for student knowledge and skills.

Course Number and Title:
Students completing this course will be able to:
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Table 3b. New Teaching/Learning Methods

Describe any new teaching or learning methods you plan to use as a result of your SSI experience (multimedia, technology, lecture, hands-on learning, demo, etc.) to help achieve your new learning objectives.

New Methodology: Identify any new teaching/learning technique(s) you plan to integrate into your course(s).
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How do you expect the new teaching/learning method(s) increase your students’ knowledge or skills or change their attitudes?

Describe how each new activity will be set up. What must the instructor and/or students do to prepare for the activity? Identify set-up tasks, equipment, materials, and/or supplies needed to complete the activity. Describe what students must do to prepare for the activity when appropriate (e.g., reading, studying, forming teams, etc.).

Table 3c. Student Assessment

Student assessment should be closely aligned with each learning objective. Try to ensure that students demonstrate active use of new knowledge by solving problems, making critical decisions, or creating new information or products from what they learn. Assessment of new skills may require only a few new test questions or they might require direct observation of new tasks or collaborative work. To make your observations consistent and accurate, you may wish to create a checklist or rubric that enables you to assign ratings of student performance (e.g., excellent, good, acceptable, poor).

Describe assessment methods to determine achievement of specific learning objectives.
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How are these methods different than previous methods used in your course(s)?

Section IV: Curriculum Revision Plan Feedback

How has the SSI shaped your curriculum revision process?

How can the curriculum revision process be improved?

What are the major challenges in revising your course(s)?

What resources do you need to help your students reach their learning objectives?

Summer Sustainability Institute Template Description:STTE, NSF Project No. 0812576, J. Mattoon, External Evaluator, and Kim Smith, SSI Training Coordinator, July, 2010.

Verbs for Measurable Learning Objectives

add / chart / compute / defend / discriminate / evaluate / generate / label / order / present / rephrase / solve
alter / check / conduct / define / dissect / execute / group / list / organize / propose / replace / sort
analyze / choose / connect / demonstrate / distinguish / expand / guide / locate / outline / prove / report / state
apply / classify / construct / derive / distribute / explain / identify / manipulate / paraphrase / provide / reproduce / structure
arrange / collect / contrast / describe / divide / express / illustrate / map / perform / rearrange / restate / suggest
articulate / combine / convert / design / document / extend / include / mark / place / recall / restructure / summarize
assemble / communicate / coordinate / designate / draw / extract / increase / match / plan / reconstruct / score / support
build / compare / correct / detect / duplicate / extrapolate / indicate / measure / plot / regroup / select / translate
calculate / compile / criticize / develop / eliminate / find / insert / modify / position / relate / show / troubleshoot
calibrate / complete / critique / diagram / employ / finish / integrate / name / predict / remove / signify / verify
categorize / chart / decrease / differentiate / estimate / formulate / isolate / number / prepare / reorganize / sketch / write

Recommendations for Setting Learning Objectives and Planning Student Assessment