Sustainability Toolkit: Get involved

Welcome

Thank you for your interest in being part of the EPC’s Sustainability toolkit, produced in partnership with Siemens and the Royal Academy of Engineering. Please read on to find out how you can get involved.

The Sustainability Toolkit is currently in the development phase. If you would like to get involved, please feel free to:

  • Become a reviewer,
  • Contribute a guidance article(s),
  • Contribute a teaching tool such as a case study(ies), project brief(s) and/or technical tool(s),
  • Suggest a link or other resource that we can add to the toolkit.

We will be updating this page frequently, adding more ways to get involved. Please check back soon.

Become a reviewer

Reviewers are sought to evaluate and approve content submitted for inclusion in the Sustainability Toolkit.

We are seeking academics and other engineering professionals to review the various case studies, enhancements, guidance articles and other resources that are submitted to us for publication within the Sustainability Toolkit.

For further information, or to register your interest, please contact Sarah Hitt: s.hitt@epc.ac.uk and Crystal Nwagboso: c.nwagboso@epc.ac.uk

Contribute a guidance article

Contributors are sought to create guidance articles on various topics related to sustainability.

We are seeking contributors to write guidance articles. These articles should connect the why (why must sustainability issues be central in engineering education?) to the how (how can this be done efficiently and effectively?). Through these tools, we aim to help upskill UK engineering educators so that they feel capable of and confident in integrating sustainability into their engineering teaching. Particularly, we invite guidance articles that explain the connection between engineering and sustainability. These may have the following foci:

1. An overview of why sustainability issues and the SDGs are entangled within engineering projects, products, and processes.

2. Explanations of the connections between sustainability issues and specific engineering disciplines such as Chemical, Mechanical, Electrical, Computing.

3. An explanation of how sustainability concerns are linked to different stages of the engineering process such as the design/concept stage, the manufacturing/production stage, the disposal/reuse stage, etc.

4. Explanations of the connections between sustainability in engineering and:
a. Legal, regulatory, policy, and/or political issues.
b. Ethical issues and/or engineering ethics.
c. Issues of equality, diversity, and inclusion.

5. An explanation of this new conception of engineering “from hubris to humility”.

6. Examples of how sustainability has been woven into a conventional subject.

Step 1: Read the guidance for submitting a guidance article

Guidance #1: Research Guidance #2: OverviewGuidance #3: PurposeGuidance #4: ContentGuidance #5: References and resourcesGuidance #6: Format

Research:

Before you begin, you may want to review guidance articles that form a part of the EPC’s Ethics Toolkit, since we hope that contributions to the Sustainability Toolkit will be fairly consistent in length, style, and tone.  

Guidance articles are meant to be overviews that a reader with no prior knowledge of sustainability could refer to in order to develop a baseline understanding and learn where to look for additional information. They should be understandable to students as well—imagine that an educator might excerpt content from the article to provide their students context on a project or learning activity. 

They should be approximately 500-1000 words and reference relevant open-source resources.  

Overview:

The articles are meant to be able to stand on their own as a piece of guidance on a topic; they are also meant to work alongside other guidance articles so that taken together they form a sort of sustainability in engineering handbook.  

Purpose:

Each article should inform, explain, and provide guidance on the topics. Put yourself in the perspective of an engineering educator who is new to sustainability. 

Content:

The content of the article should be organised and well developed. That is, it should be presented in a logical way and thoroughly explained.  Please click here for more details on the content that we’re seeking.

References and resources:

Where additional explanation could be given, it might point to other resources, and where information is presented from another source, it needs to be properly referenced.  

Format

Guidance articles should follow this format: 

  • Premise 
  • Body of article, divided up into headed sections as necessary. 
  • Conclusion (optional) 
  • References: use Harvard referencing 
  • Resources 

 

Step 2: Before you submit, review this checklist

  • Does the article both make sense as a single piece of guidance as well as fit in with the rest of the articles to be developed? 
  • Would someone new to sustainability understand the information presented and would it help them?  
  • Do you need to expand on any ideas or reorganise them to make them clearer? 
  • What additional resources or references have you included? 
  • Before you submit your contribution, have you registered as a contributor? If not, please register your interest here.

 

Step 3: Submitting your guidance article

Guidance articles should be submitted in Word file format (.doc / .docx). Any corresponding images should be submitted in either (.jpeg, .jpg or .png)

To ensure that everyone can use and adapt the Toolkit resources in a way that best fits their teaching or purpose, this work will be licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Under this licence users are free to share and adapt this material, under terms that they must give appropriate credit and attribution to the original material and indicate if any changes are made.

You may download a PDF version of the guidelines (as outlined in Step 1) here.

Please submit your guidance article by clicking the following button:

Submit your Sustainability Toolkit contribution

Contribute a teaching tool (e.g. case studies / project briefs / technical tools etc.)

Contributors are sought to develop teaching tools such as case studies, project briefs and technical tools. These tools should explain pedagogies and teaching methods through resources (e.g. case studies, project briefs, and technical tools) that provide examples of the ways that sustainability issues can be embedded within technical problems and engineering practice.

We are seeking contributors to develop teaching tools such as case studies, project briefs and technical tools. These tools should explain pedagogies and teaching methods through resources (e.g. case studies, project briefs, and technical tools) that provide examples of the ways that sustainability issues can be embedded within technical problems and engineering practice. Through these tools, we aim to help upskill UK engineering educators so that they feel capable of and confident in integrating sustainability into their engineering teaching. Section A provides details about submitting a case study, Section B  provides details about submitting a project brief, Section C  provides details about submitting a technical tool.

 

 SECTION A

Step 1: Read the guidance for submitting a case study

Guidance #1: Research Guidance #2: Overview Guidance #3: Authenticity Guidance #4: Complexity of issue Guidance #5: Activities and resourcesGuidance #6: Educational levelGuidance #7: Format

Research

You may develop the case in any way you see fit, but you should mimic the length, style, and tone of existing case studies found in the EPC’s Ethics Toolkit (scroll to the bottom of this page to view the subset of case studies from the EPC’s Ethics Toolkit which feature themes related to sustainability). While sustainability cases may not have the same learning outcomes as ethics cases, the format and approach should be similar. Remember that the audience for these case studies is educators seeking to embed sustainability within their engineering teaching. 

You may find the current research on good practice in writing case studies to be helpful as you develop your case. The Recipe for Creating an Ethics Case Study provides guidance that could be applied to sustainability cases.  Please click here to download the guidance for sustainability cases. 

Overview

The case study should be presented as a narrative about a sustainability issue in engineering. This issue should allow educators to address large-scale concerns (the SDGs and/or social, regulatory, economic, or environmental concerns) as well as small-scale concerns (individual issues such as personal choices, daily practice, relationships, etc.). Additionally, there should be enough emphasis on the engineering part of the case so that technical material could be introduced.  Further ideas for case study topics could include approaches for maintaining / mending rather than new products, e.g. right to repair, up-to-date case studies from industry, understanding the sustainability implications within educational practice (e.g. 3D printing, cloud use, energy, whiteboards), etc.

 

Ideally, sustainability cases should provide an opportunity for students to develop one or more competencies that experts agree are essential for demonstrating sustainability knowledge, skills, and attributes. AdvanceHE’s Education for Sustainable Development Guidance and Engineers Without Borders – UK’s Global Responsibility Competency Compass both describe relevant competencies that could be included as learning outcomes or aims in a sustainability case. 

Authenticity

Case studies are most effective when they feel like they are realistic, with characters that you can identify or empathise with, and with situations that do not feel fake or staged. Giving characters names and backgrounds, including emotional responses, and referencing real-life experiences help to increase authenticity. 

Complexity of issue

Many cases are either overly complicated so that they become overwhelming, or so straightforward that they can be “solved” quickly. A good strategy is to try to develop multiple dimensions of a case, but not too many that it becomes unwieldy. Additionally, complexity can be added through different parts of the case so that instructors can choose a simpler or more complicated version depending on what they need in their educational context. 

Activities and resources

You should provide a variety of suggestions for activities to engage learners as well as resources to both help educators prepare and to enhance students’ learning.  

Educational level

When writing your case study, you should consider which level it is aimed at. A Beginner-level case is aimed at learners who have not had much experience in engaging with complex sustainability topics, and usually focuses on only one or two dimensions of a dilemma. An Advanced-level case is aimed at learners who have had previous practice in engaging with sustainability issues, and often addresses multiple levels of complexity. An Intermediate case is somewhere in between.  

Format

The case study should follow the following format: 

  • Learning and teaching notes: This is an overview of the case and its dilemma, and how it relates to AHEP’s themes.  
  • Learning and teaching resources: You should provide a list of reliable, authoritative open-source online resources that relate to the case and its issue(s). These can be from a variety of sources, such as academic institutions, journals, news websites, business, and so on. We suggest a minimum of five sources that help to provide context to the case and its issues. You may want to flag up certain resources as suggested pre-reading for certain parts of the case, if you feel that this will enrich the learning experience. 
  • Summary: This sets out the case’s initial situation and characters. 
  • Issue – Part one: This elaborates on the case and provides a dilemma for the character.  
  • Questions and activities: This is where you provide suggestions for discussions and activities related to the case and the dilemma. 
  • Further issues: Some case studies are sufficiently complex at one dilemma, but if the case requires it you can provide further parts (up to a maximum of three). 
  • Further questions and activities: After each part, you should provide further suggestions for discussions and activities related to the case and the issues. 
  • If possible, suggest assessment opportunities for activities within the case, such as marking rubrics or example answers. 

 

 Step 2: Before you submit, review this checklist:

  • Is there a strong narrative to the case?  
  • Can the topic be addressed at both a large and small scale?  
  • Are there places where technical topics could be integrated?
  • Does the case have authentic characters and situations? 
  • Is there a clear dilemma in the case?  
  • Does the case provide enough complexity to challenge users, but not so much that people might avoid engaging with it? 
  • Are there sufficient activities and resources suggested? 
  • Before you submit your contribution, have you registered as a contributor? If not, please register your interest here.

 

Step 3: Submitting your case study

To ensure that everyone can use and adapt the Toolkit resources in a way that best fits their teaching or purpose, this work will be licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Under this licence users are free to share and adapt this material, under terms that they must give appropriate credit and attribution to the original material and indicate if any changes are made.

Case studies should be submitted in Word file format (.doc / .docx). Any corresponding images should be submitted in either (.jpeg, .jpg or .png)

You may download a PDF version of the guidelines (as outlined in Step 1) here.

Please submit your case study via the following button:

Submit your Sustainability Toolkit contribution

 

 

SECTION B

Step 1: Read the guidance for submitting a project brief 

Guidance #1: Overview

Guidance for project briefs will be added in due course. Please check back soon. If you have any additional questions please contact s.hitt@epc.ac.uk or c.nwagboso@epc.ac.uk.

 

Step 2: Before you submit, review this checklist:

  • A checklist for project briefs will be added in due course. Please check back soon. If you have any additional questions please contact s.hitt@epc.ac.uk or c.nwagboso@epc.ac.uk.
  • Before you submit your contribution, have you registered as a contributor? If not, please register your interest here.

 

Step 3: Submitting your project brief

To ensure that everyone can use and adapt the Toolkit resources in a way that best fits their teaching or purpose, this work will be licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Under this licence users are free to share and adapt this material, under terms that they must give appropriate credit and attribution to the original material and indicate if any changes are made.

Project brief’s should be submitted in Word file format (.doc / .docx). Any corresponding images should be submitted in either (.jpeg, .jpg or .png)

Please submit your project brief via the following button:

Submit your Sustainability Toolkit contribution

 

SECTION C

Step 1: Read the guidance for submitting a technical tool

Guidance #1: Overview Guidance #2: Research

Overview:

An array of technical tools has been developed to support more sustainable engineering practices. These include:

  • Life cycle assessments or analysis (LCA) (e.g. single use plastics or health care packaging),
  • Life cycle inventory,
  • Embodied carbon calculators and assessments,
  • Sustainability assessment tools.

We are seeking examples of open-source technical tools that have been effectively integrated into engineering teaching explained through a lesson plan or guide for use.

Research:

The scientific and mathematical calculations that underpin engineering also offer an opportunity to integrate sustainability issues. Micro-insertion is a technique that introduces sustainability concerns into technical problems by providing context for what is already being taught. Most widely known as an approach for integrating ethics into engineering, we are seeking examples of micro-insertions of sustainability into common technical problems found in:

  • Chemical engineering,
  • Computing,
  • Mechanical engineering,
  • Civil engineering,
  • Electrical engineering,
  • General engineering modules

 

Step 2: Before you submit, review this checklist:

  • A checklist for technical tools will be added in due course. Please check back soon. If you have any additional questions please contact s.hitt@epc.ac.uk or c.nwagboso@epc.ac.uk.
  • Before you submit your contribution, have you registered as a contributor? If not, please register your interest here.

 

Step 3: Submitting your technical tool

To ensure that everyone can use and adapt the Toolkit resources in a way that best fits their teaching or purpose, this work will be licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Under this licence users are free to share and adapt this material, under terms that they must give appropriate credit and attribution to the original material and indicate if any changes are made.

Technical tools should be submitted in Word file format (.doc / .docx / .csv / .xlsx). Any corresponding images should be submitted in either (.jpeg, .jpg or .png)

You may download a PDF version of the guidelines (as outlined in Step 1) here.

Please submit your technical tool via the following button:

Submit your Sustainability Toolkit contribution

Suggest a sustainability link or resource

Suggestions are sought for resources that can be added to the Sustainability Toolkit.

We are seeking online, free, and open source resources that we can add to our Sustainability Resources Library.

This could be something that you’ve created to use in your teaching, a useful worksheet that you found online, a resource that we can add to a case study, or a link to an external guidance article.

Please submit sustainability-related resources and link suggestions to Crystal Nwagboso at c.nwagboso@epc.ac.uk

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