Renewing the Sustainable Energy Curriculum – Providing Internationally

Relevant Skills for a Carbon Constrained Economy

Presenter Associate Professor Chris Lund

Murdoch University

There are currently 6 types of university SE courses: • Named undergraduate engineering degrees (e.g. BEng in RE

Engineering) – Murdoch, UNSW. • Named undergraduate multidisciplinary degrees (e.g. BSc in

Sustainable Energy Management) – Murdoch. • Named postgraduate engineering degrees (e.g. MEng Sustainable

Energy Engineering) – RMIT. • Named postgraduate multidisciplinary degrees (e.g. MSc in Renewable

Energy, Masters of Energy Studies) – Murdoch, UQ. • Majors or specialisations in conventional undergraduate degrees (e.g.

BEng (Electrical) – specialisation in renewable energy. • Majors or specialisations in conventional postgraduate degrees (e.g.

MEng (Electrical) – specialisation in renewable energy). Known Australian courses listed on project website.

How Do We Best Train Tertiary Sustainable Energy Graduates?

You Need An Appropriate Framework or Design

Five leading Australian Universities with a reputation for Sustainable Energy teaching and research are undertaking a project that aims to:

Scope and develop sustainable energy curriculum frameworks for (Australian) higher education institutions that meet the needs of domestic and international student graduates and employers, both now and into the near future.

This includes: • Developing a list of sustainable energy skills, knowledge and

generic graduate attributes required by employers, which are formulated into curriculum frameworks.

The curriculum frameworks will be used to assess the suitability of existing curricula and courses, guide redevelopment of the courses as required, as well as guide the development of new offerings. The focus is on student centred learning and outcomes and providing graduates that have the knowledge, skills and attributes (capabilities) required to meet the needs of the rapidly expanding sustainable energy industry in Australia and globally. It applies to specialist sustainable engineering and energy studies programs, as well as conventional engineering, science and humanities and social science programs which have a sustainable energy focus or major.

Need to gain an understanding of key elements related to the frameworks and delivery methods.

• Need for and balance between inter/multi-disciplinary training and specialist knowledge (e.g. engineering, policy etc).

Key Elements of Frameworks & Delivery

• Use of specialist courses and programs versus embedding skills and knowledge into existing discipline training (e.g. a specialised undergraduate course vs embedding in an existing engineering or science degree).

• Face-to-face versus online and blended delivery.

"Why in the world would students come along and sit in a passive lecture with 300 other students when they can access material online themselves, It makes no sense to me” Australian National University vice-chancellor Ian Young – The Age Oct 2nd 2012

http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/online-challenge-to-campus-life-20121001-26vdp.html#ixzz2Z6LTLvze

• The need for, and extent of, work integrated learning based education and teaching by industry practicioners that is optimal, or acceptable;

• Internationalisation of the curriculum so that it meets the needs of international students studying in Australia or at affiliated international institutions, and Australian graduates seeking to work overseas.

The curriculum frameworks are being developed using sound educational curriculum theory, based on existing literature and reports related to skills and knowledge required, existing Australian and international SE courses, surveys and interviews of graduates and employers as well as best practice in other international institutions.

Project members: • Murdoch University;

• Australian National University;

• Queensland University of Technology;

• University of New South Wales;

• University of South Australia.

Project Approach and Methodology

What is a Curriculum Framework ?

Environmental Engineering Capability Cube (Modified from Dowling and Hadgraft)

Generic Graduate Capabilities Framework (From Macquarie University)

https://staff.mq.edu.au/teaching/curriculum_development/graduate_capabilities/gradcaps_faqs/

https://eprints.usq.edu.au/22746/1/015.pdf

Generic Capabilities

What capabilities should SE graduates have?

Curriculum Frameworks Development

Capability Cube

Sustainable Energy Knowledge Taxonomy

Sustainable Energy Capability Cloths

Sustainable Energy Curriculum Frameworks

What is Sustainable Energy?

Sustainable energy is the provision of energy that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

Based on Wikipedia definition.

Sustainable energy sources include all renewable energy sources and associated systems, such as hydroelectricity, solar energy, wind energy, wave power, geothermal energy, bioenergy, and tidal power.

It usually also includes technologies designed to improve energy efficiency.

Sustainable Energy Knowledge Taxonomies

Sustainable Energy Practice Cloths

Next Steps

• Online survey questionnaires and interviews with graduates from project Universities and industry representatives;

• Interviews with key international best practice program/course coordinators/chairs;

• Refinement of cloths and development of draft curriculum frameworks;

• Trialling of draft curriculum frameworks against existing courses in member universities;

• Finalisation and dissemination of Curriculum Frameworks and Delivery Guidance Information.

What is the Ideal Sustainable Energy Training?

Experiential capability

development through blended

delivery

Multidisciplinary Industry integrated

Internationally relevant Flexible & adaptable

More Information

More information available from the project website; • Copies of draft SE Knowledge Taxonomies and SE Capability

Cloths; • Project Publications; and • List of existing Australian SE courses/degrees. :

http://www.murdoch.edu.au/projects/secfp/ Contact: C.Lund@murdoch.edu.au

Support for this project/activity has been provided by the Australian Government Office

for Learning and Teaching. The views in this project do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching.

Collaborators

Chris Lund, Trevor Pryor, Philip Jennings, and Amanda Woods-McConney, Emiko Watanabe - Murdoch University Kim Blackmore - Australian National University Richard Corkish - University of New South Wales Wendy Miller - Queensland University of Technology Wasim Saman - University of South Australia