Otago Polytechnic, Dunedin, New Zealand

JOURNEY OF SUSTAINABILITY

Getting our house in order

Tertiary Institution

Operations management view

Inputs and Outputs – can apply to an individual, organisation, society…

Other strands:Transport – to/from campusThe Polytech does not exist in a vacuum…Community, City, CountryGood examples: Harvard, Colorado, etc.

The need to walk the talk! The biggest critics will be the staff, then students.

Students

Curriculum

Operations

Staff Development

Otago Polytechnic Education for Sustainability Strands

Research

Community

Communication

Academic Board Statement

Our goal is that every graduate may think and act as a “sustainable practitioner”.

Our Vision

Process for departments in integrating sustainability:

Student Survey

• The Polytechnic teamed up with the University of Otago to research how polytechnic students’ sustainability knowledge, skills and values could be initially benchmarked, and then subsequently re-measured to record changes.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pfly/123935180/

Champions, buddies, stocktakes

• Departments to discover what a sustainable practitioner in their industry looks like.

• Staff development workshops offered.

E.G of Stocktake form

Department Examples

• Otago Institute of Sport and Adventure:

- Fair trade certified

- Staff role modelling sustainability

- Ride share cluster

• Staff are very much on board in this department

• They are struggling to find effective ways to get the student group they attract on board.

Sustainable Practice Statement for Institute of Sport

• The sporting industry has a vested interest in sustainability as the current outlook for the future will mean drastic changes for sport as we know it today.

They will learn this throughout their courses with a focus on:

• Transport

• Nutrition

• Grounds and facility management

• Sporting products

• Health and wellbeing through physical activity

OISA core papers

• Nutrition

• Event Management

• Coaching and exercise prescription

• School of Adventure

Department examples: Bachelor of Information Technology (BIT)

• Procurement policies

• Software design for EfS client – students designed a number of games and activities to educate others on the issue of climate change.

Including sleep, there’s 15 hours until we have to be coherent and on show for 350. Student projects are rapidly emerging and getting hurried testing (hopefully not too hurried!).If you’re in Dunedin, come and see us at the Spring Festival. (more Flickr images). From Dr Samuel Mann’s http://computingforsustainability.wordpress.com/

E.g.’s of Graduate profile statements for the BIT

• Year 1 Graduates: Participate and take some responsibility for decision making and change to a more sustainable model

• Year 2 Graduates: Evaluate the individual and community components of sustainable practice and manage processes to achieve a group goal

• Year 3 Graduates: Analysis of practices and evaluation of how they fit into the natural laws governing ecosystem function

Open Educational Resource (OER) in Sustainability

• http://wikieducator.org/Sustainable_practice_1

OER in Sustainability cont.

• http://wikieducator.org/Education_for_Sustainability