Syllabus

EMSC 470: Applied Sustainability in Contemporary Culture, Spring 2019

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."

• Instructors
• Course Overview
• Required Course Materials
• Assignments and Grading
• Course Schedule
• Course Policies

Instructors

Dan Kasper, Instructor

• For a full introduction, see the "Meet the Instructor" page on this website.
• A note about contacting me: The best way to reach me without an appointment is via email. Please use Canvas email (see below). I check my email frequently and will respond to you within 1 business day. As you will see in the course orientation, if you have a question regarding course content, I request that you use the discussion board. This may help other students who have the same or a similar question.
• Phone: (302) 747-0638. Please only use this if you need immediate assistance and email did not work. I check my email very frequently during the week, but if I do not respond you are welcome to call or text - text message preferred. If I do not respond immediately, I will respond as soon as possible. If we set up a phone meeting, this will be the number I use.
• Email: Please use the course email system (see the Inbox tab in Canvas). It is important that you use your Canvas email and not your personal email.
• Office Hours: I will check for and reply to messages at least once each workday, and some weekend days. Please contact me to make an appointment if you’d like to speak to me at a given time. I am flexible and will make every effort to accommodate your schedule. I am generally available for appointments weekday evenings and weekends.

Haley Sankey, Instructor
Lecturer, Department of Earth and Mineral Sciences, John A. Dutton e-Education Institute

• Office: 415 Earth and Engineering Sciences Building
• Office Phone: 814-863-1009
• Home Phone: 814-577-7760
• Email: hjs142@psu.edu
• Office Hours: By appointment

NOTE: I will read and respond to email at least once per day during the work week (Monday through Friday). I will check email on the weekends, but cannot guarantee prompt responses.

Questions?

If you have any questions that you think may benefit other students in the class, please post them to the "HAVE A QUESTION" discussion board in Canvas. We will check the discussion board frequently (usually every day) and will respond in a timely manner. You are welcome to help answer questions from other students as well. Please use this as your first option, unless the question is something you don't want to share with other students.

If you would prefer that the question is anonymous to the other students, please send it to course faculty through Canvas email. As noted above, we will check at least once each workday to respond. 

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Course Overview

Description:
This course covers the first semester of the CAUSE 2019: Applied Sustainability in Contemporary Culture program. CAUSE is a 3 semester program - spring, summer and fall 2019. The spring portion provides a review of EM SC 240N: Energy and Sustainability in Contemporary Culture, and provides an overview of topics that will be relevant to the next two semesters of the program, including food and farming, natural resource use, waste management, alternative energy technologies, as well as an overview of energy and water issues and policy in Colorado. Throughout the course, you will brainstorm possible ideas for your final CAUSE research project, in which you will propose an applied sustainability project of your design. At the end of this course, you will present ideas to your colleagues for feedback.

Prerequisites and concurrent courses:
EM SC 240N (or EM SC 297a, EM SC 240)

Course Objectives
When you successfully complete this course, you will be prepared to:

• describe fundamental concepts in energy and sustainability;
• examine the sustainability implications of waste management, renewable energy, food production, and economic activity;
• evaluate the viability of information sources;
• apply critical and systems thinking to contemporary energy and sustainability concepts;
• calculate the output of various renewable energy technologies, including wind turbines, solar arrays, and hydroelectric plants;
• propose practical applications for energy and sustainability concepts.

Expectations

The three-semester program includes one credit of online coursework in the spring semester, which will include mandatory online meetings. EM SC 240N (or EM SC 297a, EM SC 240) is a pre-requisite for the CAUSE program and can be taken in tandem with the one credit EMSC 470 in the spring semester.

The summer semester is comprised of one credit of travel during June 22-30th, 2019 where students will visit multiple sites in Denver, Boulder, and Paonia, Colorado to learn more about sustainability and energy practices and policies here in the United States. Students will identify their fall project topic during travel and will complete journaling exercises related to their travel experiences.

Fall semester is an online two-credit course in which students will complete research projects identified during their travel. Approved projects may be team based or completed individually.

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Required Course Materials

Online lesson content
All materials needed for this course are presented online through our 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 (used to access the online course resources).

The bulk of the course will be completed online and asynchronously. In the spring and fall portions of the course, you will be required to meet via remote access technology. The summer portion requires you to participate in the full travel experience in Colorado.

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Assignments

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

• Personal introduction. You will introduce yourself to the rest of the class in the Orientation section by posting a video. You will be required to view and analyze other students' videos as well. 
• Content quizzes. You will have a quiz most weeks that have new learning content. The quizzes are not designed to be "tricky," but will require you to thoughtfully analyze the course material. All quizzes carry the same weight. You are only allowed to take each quiz one time unless otherwise noted. The quizzes are untimed, and save automatically as you fill them out. 
• Journal entries. You will be required to post to your Journal most weeks. The journal provides a platform for you to explore ideas for your Final Project in the fall. I suggest using it as a repository for all information related to your Final Project, include but not limited to links to articles, images, personal photos, and case studies, in addition to brainstormed ideas about your Final Project. This must be shared with the course instructors, but may be kept private from others.
• Discussion boards. The discussion boards will vary in content. They are primarily designed to facilitate discussion regarding application of course content to contemporary issues.
• Project Proposals. At the end of the semester, you will propose 2 applied sustainability projects. The purpose of this assignment is for you to start working through details of possible Final Projects. You are not expected to determine your Final Project at this time! You will develop ideas throughout the program. This assignment consists of three (3) components: rough proposals (feedback will provided by instructors), final proposals, and a presentation. 
• Creating Web Content: NOTE: This course may require students to maintain a web presence that may include things such as the creation of a web page, blog postings, video sharing and other Internet participation. You may be required to participate in online activities that are widely accessible to all, including others outside of Penn State.

It is important that your work is submitted in the proper format to the appropriate Canvas Assignment or Discussion Forum and by the designated due date. I strongly advise that you not wait until the last minute to complete these assignments—give yourself time to ask questions, think things over, and chat with others. You'll learn more, do better...and be happier!

Due dates for all assignments are posted on the course calendar in Canvas and the Google Calendar on the Home Page.

Grading

I will use the Canvas gradebook to keep track of your grades. You can see your grades in the gradebook, too. Overall course grades will be determined as follows. Percentages refer to the proportion of all possible points earned.

Extra Credit
Extra credit may be offered, per instructor discretion.

Late Policy

Late work is not accepted, except under extenuating circumstances. If you need to request an exception due to a personal or medical emergency, please contact me. Such requests will be considered on a case by case basis. Course lessons are available to you in advance. It is your responsibility to plan ahead and work ahead if necessary to accommodate your personal schedule.

There is one exception to the rule above: You are allowed one "freebie." You can use your freebie on one assignment this semester. You cannot utilize this for a discussion board or for the Project Proposals. A freebie buys you exactly one extra week to hand in the assignment. If you use this, you must inform me by the due date. An email notification is fine. 

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Course Policies