Abstract
This presentation introduces an innovative, assessment-driven model for teaching sustainability in higher education through SUS 350: Sustainable Communities, an online course that immerses students in professional-style environmental analysis and community-based decision-making. Central to the course is the Sustainable Town Transformation Project, in which students conduct a multi-dimensional assessment of a real municipality using systems thinking, publicly available data, and a curated set of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators. Students evaluate climate vulnerabilities, ecosystem services, land-use dynamics, social equity considerations, and economic resilience to produce a practitioner-style report with evidence-based recommendations for long-term sustainability. This Innovation Showcase highlights the design principles, analytical tools, scaffolded assignments, and indicator frameworks that enable students to engage deeply with environmental assessment while developing the competencies needed for policy evaluation, community resilience planning, and sustainability governance. The session will demonstrate how this approach advances environmental education by integrating rigorous assessment methods with accessible online andragogy, offering a replicable model for instructors seeking to teach sustainability through actionable, data-informed, community-engaged learning.
Presenters
Richard Austin CastilloInstructor, Sustainability, Oregon State University, Oregon, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
Education, Assessment and Policy
KEYWORDS
Sustainable Communities, Environmental Assessment, SDG Indicators, Systems Thinking, Sustainability Education
