Jane Zhang - McMaster - 29.11.2014
Dear OCUSP members,
I would like to start by sending my
sincerest thanks for volunteering your time and expertise to supporting my
project in developing a sustainability literacy survey.
To provide some context, I will be
looking to develop a 20-question campus sustainability literacy survey for
students, faculty, and staff. While I will be creating a survey to be
implemented here at McMaster, and may not accept all suggested changes as
provided by the group, especially in those cases where they do not align with
our specific culture or project goals. However, it is anticipated that there
will be a lot of invaluable feedback provided, that will likely be useful to
other institutions who decide to conduct a similar survey for their campus. As
such, I will be documenting the feedback obtained through this process and
compiling it into a report that will be sent to the OCUSP group upon completion
of the project. This will ensure that the information and feedback provided
through this process can be utilized to revise and tailor the survey to suit
another institution of higher education, if they so choose.
Next, I would like to provide a
quick overview on what is to come:
January 7 - January 31
Literature review of Best Practices
for creating a campus sustainability literacy survey.
I will be reviewing academic journals, non-academic resources, and past sustainability literacy surveys conducted by other institutions of higher education. If anyone has any resources that you feel may support my literature review, I would greatly appreciate your assistance. Please send any relevant resources to me directly by EMAIL.
I will be reviewing academic journals, non-academic resources, and past sustainability literacy surveys conducted by other institutions of higher education. If anyone has any resources that you feel may support my literature review, I would greatly appreciate your assistance. Please send any relevant resources to me directly by EMAIL.
February 9 - February 22
Email consultation with OCUSP.
The first draft of survey to be sent to OCUSP members from February 9 to February 22. The survey will be sent via email link to FluidSurvey. The survey will be open to the group for review for 48 hours, after which I will close the survey to begin compiling the feedback and making revisions. I anticipate having the next iteration of the survey available for another round of review within 48-hours from the time the survey closed. My guess is that we will undergo approximately 3-4 rounds of review before a final draft is ready for internal review and submission to McMaster Research Ethics Board.
The first draft of survey to be sent to OCUSP members from February 9 to February 22. The survey will be sent via email link to FluidSurvey. The survey will be open to the group for review for 48 hours, after which I will close the survey to begin compiling the feedback and making revisions. I anticipate having the next iteration of the survey available for another round of review within 48-hours from the time the survey closed. My guess is that we will undergo approximately 3-4 rounds of review before a final draft is ready for internal review and submission to McMaster Research Ethics Board.
Dear
OCUSP Members,
I
would like to thank you all once again for volunteering your time to help support
my project to develop a survey assessing sustainability literacy.
While
the short-term goal of this project is to develop a comprehensive campus
sustainability literacy survey for McMaster, which can be adaptable to other
institutions, the long-term goal is to more effectively integrate
sustainability into educational programs, with a focus on interdisciplinary
learning.
To support the goals of this research, the survey questions
are divided into the following four categories: SCIENCE, SOCIAL WELL-BEING,
OPINIONS/VALUES, and CAMPUS SUSTAINABILITY. The study hypotheses and
predictions are as follows:
Hypothesis 1: Due
to a student’s disciplinary background, their performance on the survey will be
affected by the content of what they learn in their courses
Prediction 1: Students
in Science will score higher in the SCIENCE section compared to other sections
due to their disciplinary background. Additionally, Science students will
provide the most correct answers to the SCIENCE questions when compared to
students from other disciplines.
Prediction 2: Students
in Social Sciences, Humanities, and Business, will score higher in SOCIAL
WELL-BEING section, and will more likely select “Agree” or “Strongly Agree”
when compared to students in other faculties.
Prediction 3: Students
in interdisciplinary programs, such as Arts & Science, or who have taken
courses in the Sustainable Future Program, will score high on SCIENCE and more
likely select “Agree” and “Strongly Agree” from the SOCIAL WELL-BEING section,
compared to other students with the same major.
Hypothesis 2:
Students’ involvement in sustainable-related activities will affect the answers
they select for OPINIONS/VALUES section.
Prediction 4: Students
who indicate high engagement with sustainable-related activities will be
expected to also score higher overall, on both SCIENCE and SOCIAL WELL-BEING
(i.e. select “Strongly Agree” and “Agree” more often) sections.
Hypothesis 3: Faculty
members will have more exposure to issues related to sustainability and thus
have more experience with it
Prediction 5: Faculty
members will score higher in all sections than students when controlling for
the same program
A
literature review has been conducted, which included four sustainability
literacy surveys submitted to AASHE STARS by four Canadian
Universities/Colleges. University of Alberta’s survey was identified as an
ideal survey to base further development on. Permission has been granted to
utilize their survey for this purpose.
The
first draft of the sustainability survey can be found at the link below.
Following each survey question, there is an opportunity for OCUSP feedback.
Additionally, the last question prompts for a written response on the survey as
a whole.
Due
to ethics, we are using LimeSurvey and can only attach a copy of the survey in
a MS Word document.
Your feedback is requested by Monday, February 16
at 9 AM.
Thank
you in advance for your reply.
March
Obtain Ethics Approval.
Final draft of survey completed and will be sent into McMaster Research Ethics Board for clearance before sending it out to the McMaster community. There is a good chance I will be in contact throughout this time as questions arise and revisions are made. I will also be finalizing the Report of Best Practices based on my literature review, as well as the OCUSP Feedback Report based on the consultation and review process. A draft version of these documents will be available for viewing in late-March.
Final draft of survey completed and will be sent into McMaster Research Ethics Board for clearance before sending it out to the McMaster community. There is a good chance I will be in contact throughout this time as questions arise and revisions are made. I will also be finalizing the Report of Best Practices based on my literature review, as well as the OCUSP Feedback Report based on the consultation and review process. A draft version of these documents will be available for viewing in late-March.
Once I begin working on the various
reports etc. I will reach out to the group to see if there is interest in
reviewing and providing feedback. For example, there are many innovative
projects undertaken at your respective institutions, or that you are aware of,
that may be beneficial to the report of recommendations.
All formal reports will be shared
with the OCUSP group, as I hope that both the process and findings of this
project are mutually beneficial.
Again, my sincerest thanks for your
support, and I look forward to working with you all in the months to come.
Kindest regards,
Jane.