Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 74.42
Liaison Mary-Lee Townsend
Submission Date Feb. 1, 2018
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Western University
AC-6: Sustainability Literacy Assessment

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 4.00 Connor Donald
Sustainability Coordinator
Facilities Management
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution conduct an assessment of the sustainability literacy of its students (i.e. an assessment focused on student knowledge of sustainability topics and challenges)?:
Yes

Which of the following best describes the literacy assessment? The assessment is administered to::
The entire (or predominate) student body, directly or by representative sample

Which of the following best describes the structure of the assessment? The assessment is administered as a::
Standalone evaluation without a follow-up assessment of the same cohort or representative samples

A copy of the questions included in the sustainability literacy assessment(s):
A sample of the questions included in the sustainability literacy assessment or the website URL where the assessment tool may be found:

See attached Documentation


A brief description of how the literacy assessment was developed and/or when it was adopted:

The sustainability literacy survey was first implemented in the 2013-2014 academic year (culture) with a subsequent assessment performed in the 2016-2017 academic year (sustainability knowledge). The assessment was developed by the Manager, Sustainability in collaboration with members of the President’s Advisory Committee on Environment and Sustainability (PACES).


A brief description of how a representative sample was reached (if applicable) and how the assessment(s) were administered :

The survey was sent to the entire student body at Western (graduate and undergraduate students, staff and faculty); over 2,000 responses were received. The survey was administered through Western University’s survey system, Qualtrics and was open for a month.


A brief summary of results from the literacy assessment(s), including a description of any measurable changes over time:

Western University can enhance communications about important sustainability achievements, frameworks and tools that are being used internally and externally. Only 50% of the people knew that Western had signed the Paris Pledge, and there is a lot of confusion around what items are recyclable on campus (sandwich wrappers, plastic straws were wrongly identified as recyclable by the majority of campus members). In general, the results will help us identify the types of messages we need to share in order to elevate the level of sustainability literacy within our university community.


The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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