OLD Syllabus: EME807 - Technologies for Sustainability Systems

This syllabus is divided into several sections. You can read it sequentially by scrolling down the length of the document or by clicking on any of the links below to “jump” to a specific section. It is essential that you read the entire document as well as material covered in the course Orientation. Together these serve as our course "contract."

• Instructor
• Course Overview
• Course Goals and Outcomes
• Expectations
• Required Course Materials
• Assignments and Grading
• Course Schedule
• Course Policies
• Technical Requirements

Instructor

Mark Fedkin - Faculty, Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering / Dutton e-Education Insitute

Phone: 814-865-0795

Office Hours: Online by appointment

E-mail: To contact your instructor for correspondence related to this course, please use the Inbox tool in Canvas.

I will read and respond to e-mail at least once per day during the work week (Monday through Friday). You may see me online occasionally on the weekends, but it is less predictable.

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Course Overview

Description: EME 807 is a required course for the Sustainability Management and Policy option in the Renewable Energy and Sustainability Systems (RESS) program. It overviews a wide range of contemporary technologies in the context of sustainability and examines metrics for their assessment. The course explores the main principles that guide modern science and technology towards sustainable solutions. It covers such topics as resource management technologies, waste and wastewater treatment, renewable energy technologies, high performance buildings and transportation systems, application of informatics and feedback to sustainable systems, and more. Learning in EME 807 heavily replies on the real-life examples and taps into current practices of technology analysis. This course goes beyond the understanding the background, fostering critical thinking and challenging the students to draw connections between social, environmental, and economic aspects of sustainable technologies.

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Course Goals and Outcomes

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. articulate the technical and economic fundamentals of important and emerging sustainable technologies;
2. demonstrate how the economic and technical performance of sustainable technologies can be measured and compared;
3. identify the technical and economic obstacles to the widespread use of sustainable technologies;
4. assess sustainable technologies to show the greatest long-term promise in terms of social, environmental, and economic metrics;
5. identify types of sustainable energy technologies that are closest to commercialization.

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Expectations

Nature and scope of this course will require learning a wide variety of topics from a variety of resources. You will have a very short time to familiarize yourself with a particular subject or area of technology and extract the information that is useful. I did my best to find and put together proper materials for each lesson; however, if you feel the need for more explanation, details, or examples, be proactive and expand your online research. You should not expect the information to be fed to you in the final form; you will have to build your own knowledge system and learn how to use it practically. That said, I will be always ready to communicate, help, and learn from your experiences.

On average, students report that they spend eight to twelve hours per week working on a 3-credit online course. You will have flexibility to spread that workload according to your schedule and study habits. Time spent may depend on your prior experience with the web learning environment and reading pace. You will be expected to participate in online discussion forums at least twice a week.

Success in this class depends significantly on the effort you put into your course project. It is important to work on it throughout the course and keep track of milestones and deadlines. The project will give you flexibility to work on a topic of your career interest and will allow bringing your existing expertise to the course study.

Specific learning objectives are detailed within each lesson. The class schedule is published under the Calendar tab in Canvas (the course management system used for this course).

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Required Course Materials

Required and recommended textbooks

There is no specific textbook for this course. Because of the topic diversity, we will use multiple resources, most of which will be available online through Penn State Library system. Access to the Internet is a key requirement for this course.

Online lesson content

Most materials needed for this course are presented online through the EME 807 course website and in Canvas. In order to access the online materials, you need to have an active Penn State Access Account user ID and password. If you have any questions about obtaining or activating your Penn State Access Account, please contact the Outreach Helpdesk.

Reserve materials

This course uses library Electronic Reserves (E-Reserves). More information about how to access this content is available in the course orientation.

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Weekly Assignments and Grading

This course will rely on a variety of methods to assess and evaluate student learning, including:

• Discussion forums - Students will be evaluated on their comprehention of lesson materials, appropriate use of terminology, and active engagement in forum discussions.
• Written assignments - Students will investigate lesson topics and provide short reports on chosen technologies or systems. Students will be assessed based upon the depth of research, the use of appropriate information sources, and the clear communication of results.
• Individual course project - An individual final research project will build upon one of the case studies. Students will be evaluated based upon the level of application of concepts presented in the course, the response to feedback, and the overall quality of deliverables.

Citation and Reference Style

In written assignments and reports, when referring someone’s work, please use the CSE reference style. 

Submission

It is important that your work be submitted in the proper format to the appropriate Canvas Assignment or Discussion Forum and by the designated due date. Only following the designated submission procedure will make sure that your work is adequately accepted and graded.

Due dates for all assignments are posted on the course calendar in Canvas and on the Summary and Activities pages within each lesson.

Grade Breakdown

Lessons also contain a certain number of multiple choice questions and mini-problems embedded within the text. Those assignments are ungraded and are provided only as tool for self-assessment.

Canvas Grades will be used for graded assessment in this course. You can access your grades by clicking the Grades link in the course menu. The final course letter grades will be determined as follows. Percentages refer to the proportion of all possible points earned.

Late policy

The Certificate Program in RESS and the iMPS RESS degree program were designed specifically for adult professionals who need to study part-time while they work full-time. If you encounter a scheduling conflict, please notify the instructor as soon as possible to request deadline extension. Reasonable requests are granted without penalty. However, I encourage you to make any effort to submit assignments on time in order to keep you work on pace and avoid assignment pileup. Typically, you will be given one week for completing assignments on a lesson.

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Course Schedule

Below, you will find a summary of the primary learning activities for this course and the associated time frames. This course consists of twelve lessons, with the orientation preceding the official start of the course. Most lessons are one week long, but some extra time will be given for completing course project milestones. Please see course Calendar in Canvas for specific lesson time frames and assignment due dates.

Weekly schedule: each lesson will begin on Thursday, and unless otherwise stated, all written assignments will be due in a week, at 11:55 pm (your local time) the next Wednesday. The Thursday-to-Wednesday week will allow me to better address your questions closer to the deadline. Discussion posts for the same lesson will be due Sunday night during each lesson week to allow enough time for others to respond before the next lesson starts. Each next lesson will be open a few days before the corresponding week starts.

List of topics and activities included in the course is presented below. Please refer to the course website for specific reading materials recommended for each lesson.

Course Policies

• Penn State E-mail Accounts
  All official communications from the Penn State are sent to students' Penn State e-mail accounts. Be sure to check your Penn State account regularly, or forward your Penn State e-mail to your preferred e-mail account, so you don't miss any important information.
• Deferred Grades
  If you are prevented from completing this course within the prescribed amount of time, it is possible to have the grade deferred with the concurrence of the instructor. To seek a deferred grade, you must submit a written request (by e-mail or U.S. post) to your instructor describing the reason(s) for the request. It is up to your instructor to determine whether or not you will be permitted to receive a deferred grade. If for any reason the course work for the deferred grade is not complete by the assigned time, a grade of "F" will be automatically entered on your transcript.
• Graduation
  If you are planning to graduate this semester, please communicate your intent to graduate to your instructor. This will alert your instructor to the need to submit your final grade in time to meet the published graduation deadlines. For more information about graduation policies and deadlines, please see "Graduation" on the World Campus Student Policies website.
• Academic Integrity
  We will levy penalties for academic dishonesty in accordance with published College of Earth and Mineral Sciences and Penn State University policy. Please see “Policies and Rules for Students, Section 49-20” and follow the links in Section 49-20 to “G-9 Academic Integrity Procedure.”
  
  There are several ways that students could violate academic integrity policies in this course. Foremost would be plagiarizing or not submitting one's own work, be it for homework or exams. See the precedent tables for the various violation categories, sanction considerations, and sanction ranges.
  
  In this course, the first violation will result in the final course grade dropping by one full grade and the student being asked to sign the academic integrity form. In those cases where students refuse to sign, I will follow the “G-9 Academic Integrity Procedure.” A second violation will result in course failure. Particularly egregious cases of academic dishonesty will result in the pursuit of an XF grade. Disciplinary action procedures are documented here.
• Accommodations for Learning Disabilities
  Penn State welcomes students with disabilities into the University's educational programs. If you have a disability-related need for reasonable academic adjustments in this course, contact the Office for Disability Services (ODS) at 814-863-1807 (V/TTY). For further information regarding ODS, please visit the Office for Disability Services website.
  

  In order to receive consideration for course accommodations, you must contact ODS and provide documentation (see the documentation guidelines). If the documentation supports the need for academic adjustments, ODS will provide a letter identifying appropriate academic adjustments. Please share this letter and discuss the adjustments with your instructor as early in the course as possible. You must contact ODS and request academic adjustment letters at the beginning of each semester.

• Military Personnel
  Veterans and currently serving military personnel and/or spouses with unique circumstances (e.g., upcoming deployments, drill/duty requirements, disabilities, VA appointments, etc.) are welcome and encouraged to communicate these, in advance if possible, to the instructor in the case that special arrangements need to be made.
• Inclement Weather
  In case of weather-related delays at the University, this online course will proceed as planned. Your instructor will inform you if there are any extenuating circumstances regarding content or activity due dates in the course due to weather delays. If you are affected by a weather-related emergency, please contact your instructor at the earliest possible time to make special arrangements.

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Technical Requirements

For this course, we recommend the minimum technical requirements outlined on the Dutton Institute Technical Requirements page, including the requirements listed for same-time, synchronous communications. If you need technical assistance at any point during the course, please contact the ITS Help Desk (for students at University Park and all other campus locations).

Disclaimer:

Please note that the specifics of this Course Syllabus are subject to change, and you will be responsible for abiding by any such changes. Your instructor will notify you of any changes.