| Overall Rating | Silver - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 56.03 |
| Liaison | Karen Oberer |
| Submission Date | Aug. 1, 2012 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
McGill University
ER-5: Sustainability Course Identification
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 3.00 |
Kathleen
Ng Environmental Officer Sustainability Office - Campus and Space Planning |
Has the institution developed a definition of sustainability in the curriculum?:
A copy of the institution's definition of sustainability in the curriculum?:
Sustainability in teaching
In recognition that sustainability encompasses the integration of environmental, social and economic dimensions, a course or teaching activity can be considered to be sustainability-focused if it is directed toward one or more of the three pillar areas of sustainability and the learning outcomes and/or delivery of course concepts are shaped or evaluated in light of the remaining pillar areas.
Source: "Vision2020: Creating a Sustainable McGill - A Situational Analysis" July 2012
Has the institution identified its sustainability-focused and sustainability-related course offerings?:
A brief description of the methodology the institution followed to complete the inventory:
Planning and Institutional Analysis ran a list of sustainability keywords against the university course database. The Fall 2010 term was used as a representative sample for analysis, in collaboration with the Office of Sustainability.
Courses that contained less than 5 students were removed from the list as well as certain faculties that are specialized. Faculties removed include:
-Continuing Education (non-credit courses)
-Post graduate medicine
Courses that were selected are:
-lectures (with > 5 students enrolled)
-seminars
- Field courses (2 types)
A set of keywords were used as a basis to identify sustainability FOCUSED courses. If the title or course description contained one of the keywords it was deemed to be sustainability FOCUSED. All courses within a department that has sustainability focused courses were classified as sustainability RELATED if 50%+1 of their courses were considered sustainability FOCUSED. This is a work in progress as new keywords are being added to stay updated with the keywords of comparator universities. For example, based on research of our peers who have scored Gold in AASHE STARS v.1.0 (2011), language keywords were included in the list, as this could facilitate intercultural research and knowledge.
As with any course-based list, duplicates are very common due to different sections being offered. In order to combat this, once all the courses are identified an algorithm is applied to remove any duplicates to insure a more accurate count.
Does the institution make its sustainability course inventory publicly available online?:
The website URL where the sustainability course inventory is posted:
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.