• Mini-Grants - General Info 
• Funded Reports Index

• Budget Information Form
• Application Cover Sheet

• Founding Member Info
• Affiliate Member Info

Prepared by: Alma Bennett, Professor
Department of English
Clemson University

The course, as its description indicates, is a highly interdisciplinary study that traces and integrates artisitic, technological, theological, economic and political preoccupations with food- from prehistory to the present.

Description of the Seminar's Goals & Participants
An Associate Professor of Humanities and English who specializes in highly interdisciplinary courses, I first proposed and began to teach this Calhoun Honors Seminar five years ago, after Dr. Steve Wainscott, Director of the Calhoun Honors College, asked me to design a course on any subject which could serve as a nexus for a number of disciplines.  I chose food since it is a natural nexus that binds together disparate components of life, death, society, barter, labor, invention, diplomacy, immigration, weather, natural resources, religion, mystery, and creativity.    As the policy statement indicates, my primary goals for the course are for the students to explore the intricate nature of those connections and to appreciate food's central role in human history, creativity, and inventiveness.

The twenty students in the seminar represent a wide range of majors, backgrounds, and interests.  Their majors are as follow:

Animal Science                                                          2
Biochemistry                                                               1
Biological Sciences                                                   2
Chemical Engineering                                               1
Civil Engineering                                                        2
Computer Engineering                                              1
Construction Science & Management                     1
English                                                                         1
Graphic Communications                                          1
Marketing                                                                     2
Pre-Rehabilitation                                                       2
Psychology                                                                  2
Speech & Communications                                      2

Innovations Motivated by the Mini-Grant
The mini-grant has encouraged my expanding and/or adding several components to the seminar:

• The addition of a second field trip, which was a resounding success, during which we visited the Aquaculture Facilities, the Starkey Swine Center, and the Simpson Beef Unit of Clemson University.  As a result of these learning experiences and the students' responses, this will be a permanent component of the seminar.  To demonstrate something of the students' appreciatiion of this opportunity.  I have enclosed two of the student's responses to the field trip.
• An expanded study of the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century exchanges between the New World and Europe of seeds, plants, agricultural innovations and traditions, and diseases.  This study in turn, encouraged me to begin preparation of an expanded study unit on the Irish Potato Famine and all the population, agricultural, political, and immigration issues surrounding that calamity.
• A new course component, using Coca-Cola as our model, in which we examined current contemporary problems and law suits surrounding major food-related corporations, problems that range from charges of tainted bottlings in Europe to racial discrimination.  My preliminary research on this was presented to and discussed by the seminar prior to our six-hour visit to the international headquarters of Coca-Cola in Atlanta.

Purchases:

•      Babette's Feast, based on the story by Isak Dinesen
•      Big Night
•      How Tasty My Little Frenchman

•      Like Water for Chocolate, based on the novel by Laura Esquivel.

Description of the Seminar Assignments
The enclosed policy statement, syllabi, assignments, responses, and list of solo presentations will indicate something of the complexity of the students' work this semester.  Their final solo presentations -- each of which included Powerpoint slides -- were excellent as were their final research papers, which expanded their presentation topics.  I was particularly impressed by their highly professional portfolios which reflected the scope of the their study and all written (23 in all) assignments, which I had edited and critiqued prior to their inclusion in the portfolios.

Prepared by: Gary J. Wells, Professor
Agricultural and Applied Economics
Clemson University

The Project

The basic objective was to incorporate a module addressing trade, sustainable development and environmental issues into Economics 310, International Economy.  This course is designed for non-economics majors interested in international economics.  Students come from a broad spectrum of the University including management, languages, and engineering.  The course is offered each semester, and this semester (Fall 2000) the enrollment is 80.

Specifically, sustainable development/environment has been incorporated into discussions of:

• The World Trade Organization
• The European Union and
• The North American Free Trade Agreement

• Does trade encourage or deter sustainable development?
• Should trade policy concern itself with sustainable development and environmental issues?
• Should there be differential international trade rules for developing versus developed countries?
• Is regulation the route to go?
• Are environmentally friendly countries put at a trade disadvantage?

To facilitate maximum use of the material by the course's students as well as by students at other universities revised notes and case study have been placed on the course’s web site.  The course outline (including links to the web material) have been submitted to the Starfish program.

Project Material Includes:
 

• Power Point presentation of Trade and the Environment
• Power Point presentation of the European Union, Trade and the Environment
• Power Point presentation of the World Trade Organization, Trade and the Environment
• Power Point presentation of NAFTA, Trade and the Environment
• Case Study entitled "A Towering Tangle of Tires or When the Rubber Leaves the Road" (requires a Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition subscription) 
• An extensive general listing of recent environmental issues in the news (requires a Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition subscription)
• A web site with the above material 

PROJECT TITLE: The Development of a Comprehensive Research Plan to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Distance Learning 

Name:  Dr. Robert P. Hogan,  Associate Vice President for Learning Resources
College:  Florence-Darlington Technical College
Phone:  (843) 661-8344    Fax: (843) 661-8217 Email:  hoganr@flo.tec.sc.us

Name:  Dr. Philip S. Moore,  Director of Assessment
College: University of South Carolina
Phone: (803) 777-2814    Fax: (803) 777-5415 Email: PhilMoore@sc.edu: 
 

PROJECT SUMMARY

As colleges and universities move to embrace distance learning, the need for students to travel to college campuses will diminish.  The trend toward "paperless" courses and distance learning will consequently reduce the need for new classroom buildings and parking lots, and will result in less demand for gasoline for student travel and electricity for heating and lighting of classrooms.  While this trend to conserve natural resources and increase accessibility to higher education is laudable, it is essential to ensure that these savings are not realized at the expense of student learning and success.  Thus, the purpose of this project was to develop a comprehensive research plan to evaluate the effectiveness of distance learning courses.

The project assembled a comprehensive review of he literature that is available for all South Carolina colleges, and it developed a comprehensive research plan and method of analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of Internet courses.  Although the research model is tailored to online delivery, the model is applicable for interactive televised courses (ITV), independent study, and satellite courses.  The research supported by this Initiative has assisted the college in evaluating the effectiveness and sustainability of online education. 

On unique aspect of this project has been the collaboration between the University of South Carolina and Florence-Darlington Technical College.  Florence-Darlington Technical College has expertise in online delivery of courses, offering several associate degrees and more than 50 online courses.  The University of South Carolina provides research expertise that is not available at the technical college level. 

RESULTS

Literature Search

The project conducted an extensive review of the research literature and assembled the results on a CD.  CD copies of the literature search have been distributed to Clemson University, the University of South Carolina, and the 16 technical colleges. Dr, Moore will facilitate a breakfast session on distance learning at the national AAHE Assessment 
Conference in June and will distribute our CD to all participants.

Copies of the literature search have been requested by researchers at the University of Maryland’s Office of Institutional Research, University of South Carolina researchers, and members of the South Carolina Partnership for Distance Learning.  The University of Maryland researchers have agreed to send the results of their follow-up literature search.

The literature search identified several key variables. The following is a list of primary independent and dependent variables in research dealing with the effectiveness of distance education.

 Independent Student Variables

• Academic confidence 
• Age
• Cognitive skills, study habits
• Employment,  PT/FT
• Familiarity with subject taught
• Familiarity with technology 
• Family, children
• Gender 
• Hours enrolled, PT/FT
• Learning style
• Educational attainment 
• Motivation,  persistence
• Prior distance learning experience
• Socio-economic background

• Advance organizers
• Class size
• Course age 
• Course workload
• Feedback
• Individual/ group assignments
• Instructional material quality
• Instructor availability 
• Instructor DL training
• Instructor teaching load
• Statement of course goals, 
• Variety of media
• Visual aids

• Availability of course materials
• Availability of library services to off-site students
• Ease of communication, i.e., toll free lines, fax, email
• Number of staff, facilitators per course
• Number of students enrolled 
• Student advisement, tutoring 
• Key Dependent Variables 
• Amount/Quality of interaction 
• Attrition rate
• Course satisfaction
• Employer satisfaction
• Grades
• Number of program graduates
• Willingness to participate in future DE courses/recommend to others

The online program at Florence-Darlington Technical College has increased dramatically during the 1999-2000 academic year with nearly 1000 students enrolling in Internet courses.   A preliminary review of the data has shown that the attrition rate for online courses is significantly greater than for traditional on-campus courses.  For this reason, the research effort has been shifted to focus on both retention and course quality.

The researchers will complete the data analysis in summer 2000 and based upon the results of the analysis and the literature search, changes will be made to the online programs to increase student retention.

The researchers will present their findings at to EdTEch 2000 (Sept 26-28, Charleston, SC  and The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools 2000 Annual Meeting  (December 5-8, Atlanta, GA).   Proposals have also been submitted) and The Chair Academy 10th Annual International Conference, "New Horizons: Leadership for the Future," (Feb. 14-17, Tampa, FL).  A proposal will also be submitted to present research findings at the National Learning Infrastructure Initiative (NLII) Annual Meeting (Jan 28-30, New Orleans.

PROJECT TITLE: The Development of a Comprehensive Research Plan to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Distance Learning 

Name:  Dr. Robert P. Hogan,  Associate Vice President for Learning Resources
College:  Florence-Darlington Technical College
Phone:  (843) 661-8344    Fax: (843) 661-8217 Email:  hoganr@flo.tec.sc.us

Name:  Dr. Philip S. Moore,  Director of Assessment
College: University of South Carolina
Phone: (803) 777-2814    Fax: (803) 777-5415 Email: PhilMoore@sc.edu: 
 

PROJECT SUMMARY

As colleges and universities move to embrace distance learning, the need for students to travel to college campuses will diminish.  The trend toward "paperless" courses and distance learning will consequently reduce the need for new classroom buildings and parking lots, and will result in less demand for gasoline for student travel and electricity for heating and lighting of classrooms.  While this trend to conserve natural resources and increase accessibility to higher education is laudable, it is essential to ensure that these savings are not realized at the expense of student learning and success.  Thus, the purpose of this project was to develop a comprehensive research plan to evaluate the effectiveness of distance learning courses.

The project assembled a comprehensive review of he literature that is available for all South Carolina colleges, and it developed a comprehensive research plan and method of analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of Internet courses.  Although the research model is tailored to online delivery, the model is applicable for interactive televised courses (ITV), independent study, and satellite courses.  The research supported by this Initiative has assisted the college in evaluating the effectiveness and sustainability of online education. 

On unique aspect of this project has been the collaboration between the University of South Carolina and Florence-Darlington Technical College.  Florence-Darlington Technical College has expertise in online delivery of courses, offering several associate degrees and more than 50 online courses.  The University of South Carolina provides research expertise that is not available at the technical college level. 

RESULTS

Literature Search

The project conducted an extensive review of the research literature and assembled the results on a CD.  CD copies of the literature search have been distributed to Clemson University, the University of South Carolina, and the 16 technical colleges. Dr, Moore will facilitate a breakfast session on distance learning at the national AAHE Assessment 
Conference in June and will distribute our CD to all participants.

Copies of the literature search have been requested by researchers at the University of Maryland’s Office of Institutional Research, University of South Carolina researchers, and members of the South Carolina Partnership for Distance Learning.  The University of Maryland researchers have agreed to send the results of their follow-up literature search.

The literature search identified several key variables. The following is a list of primary independent and dependent variables in research dealing with the effectiveness of distance education.

 Independent Student Variables

• Academic confidence 
• Age
• Cognitive skills, study habits
• Employment,  PT/FT
• Familiarity with subject taught
• Familiarity with technology 
• Family, children
• Gender 
• Hours enrolled, PT/FT
• Learning style
• Educational attainment 
• Motivation,  persistence
• Prior distance learning experience
• Socio-economic background

• Advance organizers
• Class size
• Course age 
• Course workload
• Feedback
• Individual/ group assignments
• Instructional material quality
• Instructor availability 
• Instructor DL training
• Instructor teaching load
• Statement of course goals, 
• Variety of media
• Visual aids

• Availability of course materials
• Availability of library services to off-site students
• Ease of communication, i.e., toll free lines, fax, email
• Number of staff, facilitators per course
• Number of students enrolled 
• Student advisement, tutoring 
• Key Dependent Variables 
• Amount/Quality of interaction 
• Attrition rate
• Course satisfaction
• Employer satisfaction
• Grades
• Number of program graduates
• Willingness to participate in future DE courses/recommend to others

The online program at Florence-Darlington Technical College has increased dramatically during the 1999-2000 academic year with nearly 1000 students enrolling in Internet courses.   A preliminary review of the data has shown that the attrition rate for online courses is significantly greater than for traditional on-campus courses.  For this reason, the research effort has been shifted to focus on both retention and course quality.

The researchers will complete the data analysis in summer 2000 and based upon the results of the analysis and the literature search, changes will be made to the online programs to increase student retention. 

The researchers will present their findings at to EdTEch 2000 (Sept 26-28, Charleston, SC  and The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools 2000 Annual Meeting  (December 5-8, Atlanta, GA).   Proposals have also been submitted) and The Chair Academy 10th Annual International Conference, "New Horizons: Leadership for the Future," (Feb. 14-17, Tampa, FL).  A proposal will also be submitted to present research findings at the National Learning Infrastructure Initiative (NLII) Annual Meeting (Jan 28-30, New Orleans.

The study was part of the Clemson University “Sustainable Universities Initiative Mini-Grant Project,” conducted 30 June 1999 through 30 June 2000. The purpose of the research was to inventory places on campus (buildings and open spaces) for student and faculty “sense of attachment”, to be used as an indicator for sustainable planning and management on campus. The premise underlying the study was that Clemson University’s “places” within the campus are special places that many South Carolinians have experienced and are strongly bonded/attached. Current students are developing emotional bonds and attachments to campus places and attributes that will be sustained over a lifetime. It is essential that Clemson University personnel understand the major components of campus place bonding/attachment, and to work toward the sustainability of these valued resources. 

There were two phases to the study. Phase I involved passing out instamatic cameras to 15 freshmen and 15 seniors to photograph 12 places/spaces on campus, that students felt a sense of attachment toward. Classrooms were visited on two geographical areas of campus (agricultural and central) to ask for volunteers to take photos. The photos served as an inventory of campus resources and were analyzed for universal and thematic content. The 300+ student generated photographs, after reduction by a panel of four researchers to 24 universal and/or thematic themes, were re-photographed with a digital camera and used as stimuli (place photos) in Phase II of the project.

Phase II consisted of a photo-questionnaire consisting of 24 prototype photos from the student (plus researcher) generated photo inventory, a place attachment scale, and some background characteristics of respondents. The photo-questionnaire was used to sample 58 freshmen, 116 seniors (n = 174), 10 new (1st year) faculty, and 11 senior (15+ years at Clemson University) faculty (n = 21) for sense of place bonding/attachment toward campus environments. Different disciplines and areas of campus were purposefully sampled (classrooms) to approximate a representative sample of students.

Results indicate that students have a fairly strong to strong attachment with the overall campus, while faculty have significantly less (p
0.001). Students were most bonded/attached with the football stadium, followed by Tillman Hall, the amphitheater, the amphitheater-pond-library corridor, and the reflecting pond. Bowman Field, along with Tillman Hall and Death Valley, symbolize the place theme most bonded with by students. In general, students are most bonded/attached to the central area of campus, its buildings, and connecting pathways.

They have a very weak to only a little attachment for the landscaped and natural areas of campus.  Although students were significantly more bonded/attached to campus than faculty, they both agreed that the campus is “quite familiar and recognizable” to them, that “the campus is easy to bond with”, that “it is a part of them”, that “five years after graduation (retirement or transfer) campus places will still be an important part of them”, and that “the campus places having the strongest ratings of bonding/attachment should be sustained.” The latter two statements are quite relevant to the purpose of this project, being the sustainability of universities and their resources.  Freshmen, though new to campus, did not differ significantly (statistically) from seniors in degree of bonding/attachment with campus places. In the few instances where differences were found, freshmen were more  bonded/attached. When females and males were compared, males were significantly more attached to outdoor, landscaped, and natural places-areas of campus. There were no differences between females and males for developed-constructed places and areas.

There are many aspects or dimensions of place bonding and attachment, ranging from being only familiar with a place, to belonging to it, to self-identity, to dependence on it, and to even developing a sense of rootedness. Students revealed the following order (most to least) of bonding for the dimensions: place belongingness, place familiarity, place rootedness, place identity, and place dependence. Students were neutral as to whether they depend on campus places a lot.

Although faculty rated all but two of the 24 photographed places lower (18 of them
significantly, p <=0.05) than students, the pattern of places most to least bonded with was quite similar (correlation = 0.83). The exception was with the football stadium and playfields, which students ranked considerably higher than faculty. In general, faculty ratings simply seem to be more reserved than student ratings. (Other explanations are offered in the Summary, Implications, and Conclusions section of the report).

The study results generate several questions and concerns about student/faculty sense of place bonding/attachment on campus. The findings also have various implications for how to best plan and manage place bonding/attachment on campus, and sustain the places of campus attachment. For example, (1) why have students not developed or acquired a greater bonding for the natural and landscaped dimensions of campus, (2) why are faculty ratings of bonding/attachment consistently lower than students’ ratings, (3) why does length of time on campus (i.e., freshmen versus seniors) not influence sense of campus bonding, and (4) what is and can be done to improve an already established sense of bonding/attachment with campus
places?

Finally, there were limitations to the study. It was a pilot study funded by seed-money
for a period of only one-year. The sampling and data analysis were not extensive. In particular, a larger sample of faculty is needed for a valid interpretation of results. A second generation, more extensive study, is recommended as a sequence to this pilot study.

The impetus for submission of the Sustainable Universities grant proposals was The University of South Carolina, College of Nursing’s (CON) commitment to environmental sustainability.  Faculty and students of CON are cognizant of the direct impact of the environment on the health and well-being of our clients, families, and communities.  Teaching families mechanisms for maintaining a balance of resources may pale in comparison to providing care for clients experiencing crises related to acute and chronic illnesses.  Attention to environmental factors contributing to onset and exacerbation of illnesses, however, must be a priority for Nursing and other health care disciplines. 

Two key areas of significance to environmental sustainability and health care were identified, including environmental justice, and environmental health case management.  Two grant proposals were submitted to address these issues 

Proponents of environmental justice posit that vulnerable populations, such as minority ethnic groups, and low-income communities are disproportionately exposed to pollution and environmentally induced related health risks.  Those concerned about issues of environmental justice seek to promote appropriate actions to eliminate these risks.  Advanced Practice Nursing students (Nurse Practitioners, Clinical Nurse Specialists, Post-Master’s, and Nursing Doctorate) will repetitively encounter individuals and families from disadvantaged groups in their health care practices.  Introducing principles of environmental justice to students early in the educational process allows them to integrate key principles across theoretical courses and clinical practicum.  The purpose of this project was to facilitate examination of health risks and outcomes resulting from a disproportionate exposure to toxins and pollution among advanced practice nursing students.  Toward meeting this objective, an environmental justice module was designed and implemented. 

The specific target population for this project was students enrolled in Conceptual Basis for Family and Community Health Nursing (NURS 708).  This course is required for all graduate Nursing students in the Health Major.  The key objective of NURS 708 is to introduce students to basic concepts, theories, and issues relevant to practice as a specialist in Public Health/Community Health Nursing.  Students obtaining their degree in the Health Major function as advanced practice nurses.  As such, these nurses assume leadership positions in the primary health care of families and selected community populations.  This core course is opportune for introducing students to the principles of environmental justice.

The environmental justice module took shape in two forms:

(1) Dr. Adrienne Cooper, Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering served as a consultant for developing this module.  Dr. Cooper presented a class lecture and provided students with a packet of materials to enhance understanding of principles and practice of environmental justice.  Dr. Cooper guest lectured for Nursing 708 on the topic of Principles of Environmental Justice in Spring of 2000 and Fall of 2000.  Her lecture has been recorded via Distance Education and the tape will be shown to students in the Spring of 2000 and Fall of 2001.  It is anticipated that this interdisciplinary teaching collaboration will continue in the future.  One plan is to invite a panel of experts including, but not limited to an environmental ethicist, an environmental justice activist, and community citizens and corporations who have been involved with issues of environmental justice. A manuscript, authored by the study’s principal investigator and Dr. Cooper, which will be submitted to a Nursing or health care journal, is in progress. 

(2) The change for adding an objective to explore political and ethical dimensions of environmental health issues environmental health to NURS 708 was approved in the College of Nursing and at the University level.  (Click here to view syllabus.)  The traditional Family Assessment and Care Plan assignment, required for Nursing 708 was expanded to include a second written paper.  This follow-up paper built on initial work with a selected family and included a comprehensive assessment of family’s immediate and broader environment.  Students developed a plan of care to address actual and potential environmentally induced health hazards.  As part of this written paper, students were required to consider the family’s values, concerns, motivation, and potential roles in solving local and global environmental problems. Students were also asked to consider principles of environmental justice to their assessment and plan .  Finally, students were asked to address various roles of the advanced practice nurse, such as advocate, educator, and case manager in working families and communities concerning environmental health issues.  (Click here to view a sample Environmenatl Assessment and Plan paper)

A survey to assess knowledge level of environmental justice issues indicated that less than 25% of students knew what environmental justice was, but that over 85% felt assessment of environmental risks was an important part of planning and care provided by advanced practice nurses.  Over 75% of the students felt the current curriculum was lacking in terms of teaching them to assess and plan care related to environmental health issues. 

The purpose of this project was to identify communities at high risk for environmental health hazards in South Carolina, and to develop environmental health learning modules based on selected cases.  This project was a collaborative effort between University of South Carolina’s (USC) Department of Family and Community Health Nursing, and the Medical University of South Carolina’s Area Health Education Council. 

The project’s principle investigator and a graduate assistant from USC and MUSC to identify critical health problems across the state, which were potentially environmentally induced.  To fully assess these problems, the project team traveled too numerous sites throughout the state and interviewed to the individuals in the community including government officials and lay citizens.  The team then worked to identify possible factors for untoward health outcomes.  Finally, numerous resources were identified to aid in planning care to addresses environmentally induced health hazards.  These case study modules are linked to USC College of Nursing’s home web page: 

http://www.sc.edu/nursing/likeshell/index.htm

Developed case study modules have been distributed to 60 faculty on the MUSC’s campus to be used by students in the College of Health Professions and the College of Nursing.  In addition, 25 students in the parallel curriculum in the College of Medicine at MUSC will utilize problem-based exercises centering on case study modules. Faculty in the College of Pharmacy and Dental Medicine at MUSC are considering incorporation of these modules into their existing curriculum.  The modules have also been sent to Clemson University and will be featured in an upcoming public health meeting.

It is anticipated that these case study modules will be incorporated in USC’s graduate and undergraduate Community Health Nursing courses in the near future.  Likewise, plans for having Community Health students, as part of their course activities, update and add to components “under construction” on USC’s CON Environmental Health website, are underway.

The second component of this project was to develop an intervention designed to assess for and reduce specific environmentally induced health hazard among high-risk communities and vulnerable populations.  The graduate student from USC and the project’s principal investigator worked together to investigate mechanisms to design an intervention to assess lead poisoning among children in a selected community.  The community selected was Olympia Mills (OM), a small, older neighborhood in Columbia, South Carolina.  This community was of particular concern due to a number of risk factors including the houses, the population, and the surrounding environment.

To date, this project remains ongoing.  This small community has become engaged in a dispute with local industries and city officials regarding the redirecting of quarry trucks through a residential community.  This major environmental health risk to safety and quality of life of community residents has consumed time and resources of this community and the plan to address lead poisoning was put on hold until the traffic redirecting issue is resolved.  This community remains highly at risk and will be a target community for ongoing USC CON/community partnering projects to reduce environmental health risks. 

Susan Wallace
Clemson University

With the SUI funds and other funds, we supported 6 interns working with the Agroecology program at Pee Dee REC.  One was from Clemson, two from SC State, two from Francis Marion, and one from Ga Tech.  From all reports, the experience was good for the students and faculty.

Introduction:

This grant supported two major goals.  The first goal was to develop and implement a pilot project for the Fall 1999 semester in Geology 112 (Earth Resources) as a trial for the complete module to be used later.  The second goal was to develop a three-week module on sustainability that would be implemented during the Spring 2000 semester in Geology 112.

The Pilot Project:

The pilot project was developed and implemented in one section of Geology 112 in the fall of 1999.  This course, called Earth Resources, is the second in a two-semester sequence of geology classes taken mostly by freshmen to satisfy their general education requirements in science.  The student population in these courses is entirely non-geology majors and nearly completely non-science majors, and this course is designed to meet the needs of this population as well as possible by focusing on relationships between earth resources and societies, rather than simply focusing on the resources themselves.  Studying sustainability provides a way to link many of these connections into an overall pattern.  The pilot projct, where students in one seciton could participate for extra credit in their Earth Resources class, gave us a chance to try out many of the ideas concerning group work, topic selection, and presentation format which we later used in the Spring 2000 semester.  We judged the results successful, and we continued with our plan to use this project as a larger part of Geology 112 in Spring 2000.

Three-Week Module

The three-week module that we developed for the Spring 2000 classes, which includes a couple of class days early in the semester and about two weeks near the end, contains the workings of a sustainability curriculum.  The goal of the curriculum is to have the students tie the factual information from the course and outside research into answering this general question:  What connection is there between earth resources, sustainability, and my own life?  The basis of the curriculum is student-researched and presented projects, focusing on particular aspects of sustainability, with the projects fitting into a loose structure that attempts to answer the above question for the class as a whole.  In addition to the projects, one or more speakers address the class, discussing sustainability in a specific context.

The outline of the curriculum follows:

1.  Four or five weeks into the semester the idea of sustainability is introduced to the class; a list of proposed projects is handed out.

2.  The class following this introduction, 15-20 minutes are set aside for the assignment of projects, the organization of groups and the selection of group liaisons.

3.  Two weeks after the groups and projects have been assigned, the group liaisons meet with the instructor to discuss their group's specific topic.

4.  Four weeks after the intitial meeting with the instructor, the liaison meets again with the instructor to show a summary of research and a presentation outline.  Direction is given to the students for areas to alter or improve.

5.  One to two weeks later a final meeting occurs between the liaison and the instructor to review visual aids and last-minute preparations.  The liaison must be prepared to request special needs items, i.e. overhead projector, computer projector, etc.  Also, assignments are made of day and time for the reports at this time.

6.  During the class period before the reports begin, if possible, a speaker comes in to talk about sustainability issues in a specific industry or other specific context. 

7.  Approximately a week and a half of class time near the end of the semester is given over to the groups' oral presentations, which run 10 to 15 minutes per project.

8.  During the following class period, an overview and summation is held.

Projects are graded based on 3 main criteria:

1.  quality, quantity, and appropriateness of research
2.  presentation quality, including the use of visual aids
3.  group participation (This grade is assigned by the group members themselves in a private fashion.)

Conclusion:

This project was enjoyed by the majority of the students, based on their comments on the course evalutions, and they also felt that they learned from it, both about the issues of resources and sustainability and about the skills demanded by group work and oral presentations.  As their instructor, I share their impressions of the experience.  I saw them engaged by the material and developing good work skills, which they can apply elsewhere.  They came away from the exercise with a strong understanding of sustainability and a clear view of some of the ways our society does and, as is more generally true, does not operate in a sustainable fashion.  The curriculum may certainly be modified as time passes, but it provides a working framework for future semesters.
 

The course, an interdisciplinary seminar for honors students, was successfully taught in the fall of 1999.  I used the funds from the Sustainable Universities Project to buy three videos and to subscribe to a teleconference.  I showed the videos during class (in some cases only in part) and the class met in the evening once a month to watch the teleconference live.  The video and teleconference material made a real difference to the richness of the course—I was able to give students a variety of experiences and formats to think about the issues raised by the course.

The syllabus of the course is available on line at: http://people.clemson.edu/~pammack/chs-mil.htm .  The course centered on studying impacts of and critiques of technology.  I was very pleased with how the students tackled challenging material. I didn’t want to turn the students into Luddites (a movement we studied), but to tell them that if we are to use our technology well we must think about the problems pointed out by its critics.   However, I think I expected too much of them in the argument around which I organized the course. I found that students had some trouble comparing critiques of technology because they weren’t used to looking from the outside at the impact of technology on society.  They also expected a course more about the future and less about the past.  Some students commented at the end of that course that they enjoyed the course because it made them think for the first time about the impact of technology—what I had thought of as the starting point was for them the most important thing they got out of the course.

My experience with the Millenium course has led me to develop a related course for spring 2001, called: 2001: A History of the Future (see http://people.clemson.edu/~pammack/syl2001.htm ).  On the basis of what I learned in the first course I am going to ground the course somewhat differently, in hopes of doing a better job of starting where the students are.  I will be using a lot that I learned from teaching the first course and probably one of the films.  Another film I bought with grant money, Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times”, I now show every year in my big course for freshman engineers, History 122.  I find that gets students into seeing things from the point of view of the workers more effectively than anything else I have tried.

I feel that my project helped the students in the course understand the issues we must consider to use technology in a sustainable way in the future.  It has also helped me to teach more effectively about those issues in other courses.

 A course module on Animal Agriculture and the Environment was developed for use in AGRIC 103 Introduction to Animal Industries. This course is taught each fall and has an enrollment of 60-90 students. The multimedia module was developed in Toolbook II and includes an interactive exit quiz. The broiler industry was used as a model to cover current information related to manure management including size of the animal industries, production of manure, handling of manure, utilization of manure, economic value of manure, legislation related to animal agriculture, quality of life, and public perception issues.  This module provides an introduction into the environmental issues related to manure handling in animal facilities.

This module will be incorporated into AGRIC 103 this fall.

John C. Morse, PhD
Professor of Entomology and Director,
Department of Entomology
Clemson University
(864)656-5049
email: jmorse@clemson.edu

Three sites were set up at the Botanical Gardens in order to proceed with the survey. Each site contained six 300 foot transects (A-E) with a space of 30 between each trap. Five pitfalls were placed at each corner and in the center of the site. Site One, a riparian woodland area located at the south end of the gardens, contains an access road and a trail system running through.  Site 2 located in the Shoenike Aboretum is a dry, open grassland with trees planted sparsely.  Site 3, referred to as the Redwood Area, is a lush grassland often wet due to drainage from the greenhouse. 

From March through June 2000 pitfalls at all three sites were opened several times and checked for small mammals and amphibians. Results can be seen by following the designated links.  During the week of June 13 to June 16, Site One was trapped using Sherman Live traps and the pitfalls.  One trap was placed at each 30-foot interval.  Each site included approximately 55 traps. Traps were baited with peanut butter and checked early every morning.  The next week, Site 3 was trapped using the same method.  Site 2 has a severe problem with fire ants inhibiting any trapping of this area.  Retrapping will be tried in the fall when ant populations may be lower.  Results of the trapping efforts can be found in Table 2.  Table 3 and Chart 1 summarize data for all of the animals caught and their abundance.

Below are links to the reports in PDF format:

• Table 1 - Pitfalls opened and checked from March - June 2000 - record of animals caught
• Table 2 - Small Mammals and Amphibians Trapped at each site
• Table 3 - Summary of Mammals and Amphibians Caught in the Botanical Garden
• Bird Survey of the Botanical Gardens
• Biodiversity Inventory - Aquatic Insects

This is a report about 3 grants including their extension through 6/30/00.

I.  Research Minigrant:

Project Title:  Implementing a Sustainable Environmental Management System at Clemson University

Associate Professor Lawrence D. Fredendall

This first mini-grant was of great assistance in exploring the problems of installing an Environmental Management System (EMS) here at Clemson University.  The creation of the web site and interaction with students around that made it clear that there is limited knowledge in the community and limited information about the purposes and benefits of an EMS.  It was also made clear that there is no organized resistance to the idea of implementing an EMS, rather there is a lack of interest in implementing the EMS.

A student intern, Tipparat Laohavichien, developed alot of information about the flow of materials and energy on campus.  She found that many administrators in Facilities Management are interested in an EMS, but do not believe that there is administration support for implementing a formal EMS.