Abstract:

This paper presents initial work looking at how to promote and apply sustainable teaching within a Chemical Engineering module through student participation in the process. A group of first year Chemical and Environmental Engineering students, divided into focus groups of four to five students, were asked for suggestions to improve the sustainability of teaching. Based on brain-storming and an open discussion between the students and lecturer, a number of suggestions were chosen to be implemented in the following semester. These were: provision of notes in electronic rather than paper form; use of an online discussion group website through Facebook; electronic submission of coursework; part use of audio commentary presentations rather than traditional teaching. Feedback from students at the end of the module showed a mixed response to the implementation of these new techniques. Over sixty percent of students used the Facebook discussion site with a generally positive response, although few posted comments, information and feedback on it. Providing students with soft copies of lecture notes and coursework led to a two-thirds reduction in paper use throughout the course, while the audio commentary notes were positively received for amongst other things use during revision.

Keywords:

Sustainability in teaching.