Assessing Sustainability Knowledge of a Student Population: Developing a Tool to Measure Knowledge in the Environmental, Economic, and Social Domains. Issue 4 (19th August 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zwickle, Adam; Koontz, Tomas M; Slagle, Kristina M; Bruskotter, Jeremy T; Leal Filho, Walter; Sima, Mihaela
• Is Part Of: International journal of sustainability in higher education. Volume 15:Issue 4(2014)
• Publication Date: 2014-08-19
• Subjects: Environmental education -- Periodicals; Environmental responsibility -- Study and teaching (Higher) -- Periodicals; Sustainable development -- Periodicals; 333.70711
• DOI: 10.1108/IJSHE-01-2013-0008
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1467-6370

Abstract

<abstract> <title> <x content-type="archive" xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <sec sec-type="purpose"> <title>Purpose</title> <p>In this article we present our tool for assessing the sustainability knowledge of an undergraduate population.</p> </sec> <sec sec-type="design|methodology|approach"> <title>Design/methodology/approach</title> <p>Multiple choice questions were developed through soliciting expert input, focus groups, pilot testing, distribution via a large scale online survey, and analysis using item response theory. </p> </sec> <sec sec-type="findings"> <title>Findings</title> <p>The final assessment consists of 16 questions from the environmental, economic, and social domains covering foundational concepts within the topic of sustainability.</p> </sec> <sec sec-type="research limitations|implications"> <title>Research limitations/implications</title> <p>This assessment represents an initial effort to quantify knowledge of the broad and abstract concept of sustainability. We plan to continue refining these questions to better differentiate between students with higher levels of knowledge and to replace those with answers that may change over time.</p> </sec> <sec sec-type="practical implications"> <title>Practical implications</title> <p>With knowledge of sustainability concepts becoming increasingly included in institution-wide learning objectives there is a growing demand for a way to measure progress in this area. Our assessment tool can easily be used (via a campus-wide survey or distributed at the classroom level) by institutions to gauge current levels of knowledge, track changes over time, and assess the effectiveness of courses and curricula at meeting sustainability knowledge goals.</p> </sec> <sec sec-type="originality|value"> <title>Originality/value</title> <p>This assessment of sustainability knowledge is the first of its kind to include all three separate domains of sustainability, and we expect it to be useful across a variety of college and university contexts.</p> </sec> </abstract>