Environmental sustainability in engineering education – Quo Vadis?

Figures & data

Figure 1 Typical tutorial slide from DQE project (PLC).

Table 1 The suite of tutorial units (DQE).

The 11 DQE tutorial modules
Lecture 1: DQE and competitive advantage
Lecture 2: Environmental sustainability
Lecture 3: Territorial issues
Lecture 4: LCA and management
Lecture 5: DFS
Lecture 6: Concurrent product development
Lecture 7: DQE based marketing and customer trend analysis
Lecture 8: Integration of management systems 1
Lecture 9: Integration of management systems 2
Lecture 10: Strategy: sustainability through DQE
Lecture 11: What is DQE?

Figure 2 The learning outcomes for the ‘design for sustainability’ DQE unit.

Table 2 Evaluation matrix from one centre.

	Poor	Satisfactory	Good	Excellent
Material fits with DQE aims	–	1,2,3,4	5,6,7,10	8,9,11
	–	10	3,6	1,2,4,5,7,8,9,11
	–	2,3,5,6,8,9	1,4,7,10	11
	–	3	1,5,6,7,8,9,10	2,4,11
Appropriateness of objectives	–	11	1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9	5,10
	–	10	1,3,6,10	2,4,5,7,8,9,11
	–	2,3,5,6,8,9	1,4,10	11,7
	–	10	2,3,8,9,11	1,2,4,5,6
Are learning outcomes clear?	8,11	3,7,9	5	1,2,4,6,10
	–	–	1,3,6,10	2,4,5,7,8,9,11
	5,6	3,8,9	1,2,10,11	4,7
	–	9,10	1,2,3,4,6,8,11	5,7
Is the level pitched appropriately?	–	3	1,4,5,7,8,10,11	2,6,9
	–	–	2,3,6,7,9,10	1,4,5,8,11
	–	1,3,5,6,8,9	2,7,10	4
	–	9,10	1,3,4,6,7,11	2,5,8
Is the unit cohesive?	–	3,5,8,9	1,2,4,5,7,8,10,11	6
	–	–	2,3,6,7,9,10	1,4,5,8,11
	3,6	2,5,8,10	1,4,7,9	11
	–	10	3,8,9,11	1,2,4,5,6,7
Is the unit fluent?	–	3,8,9	2,4,5,7,10,11	1,6
	–	–	2,3,6,7,9,10	1,4,5,8,11
	3,6	2,5,8,10,11	1,4,7,9	–
	–	8,9,10	1,3,5,11	2,4,6,7
Volume of material in the unit	3	11	1,4,6,8	2,5,7,9,10
	–	2,3,5,7,9	4,8,10	6,11
	8	2,3,5,6,8,11	1,4,7,9,10	–
	–	–	1,2,3,6,7,8,10	4,5,8,9,11
Are the teaching notes effective?	3	11	6,7,10	1,2,4,5,8,9
	–	5	2,3,7,8,9,10,11	1,4,6
	3,6	2,5,8,10	1,7,9	4,11
	3,7,9	6	2,10,11	1,4,5,8
Additional reference material	3,11	4	1,5,6,8,9	2,7,10
	–	3,10	2,4,6,8,9,11	1,5,7
	3,11	–	1,2,5,6,7,8,10	4,9
	3	2,6,9	1,4,5,7,11	8,10
Quality of individual slides	–	9	1,2,3,4,5,7,8,9,10,11	6
	–	–	2,3,5,7,10,11	1,4,6,8
	5,6	1,3,8	7,9,10,11	2,4
	–	8	1,3,5,7,9,10	2,4,6,11
Overall quality of the unit	–	3,11	1,2,4,6,7,8,9,10	–
	–	–	2,3,6,7,9,10	1,4,5,8,11
	6	3,5,8	1,7,9,10,11	2,4
	–	3	2,7,8,10	1,4,5,6,9,11

Table 3 Lecture series (PD4024).

Lecture series ‘Design for Environmental Sustainability’
1. The earth is one system	12. Design for disassembly and reuse
2. Mankind's impact – eco foot-printing	13. Sustainability tools and instruments
3. Rainforest ecology	14. Cultivating sustainability cultures
4. Climate change/global warming	15. Product case studies – lessons learned
5. Fossil energy – oil and coal	16. Stake holders and behavioural
6. Fossil energy – gas and atomic	17. Environmental legislation in the EU
7. Alternative energy sources and strategies	18. Environmental legislation in practice
8. Fresh water sustainability	19. ISO 14001 and environmental audits
9. Company case studies – lessons learned	20. Manufacturing made miniature
10. DFS 1	21. Sustainability and reverse logistics
11. DFS 2	22. Sustainability – Quo Vadis?

Figure 3 Sample slide on environmental legislation – invited speaker.

Figure 4 Eco-literacy test scores at the beginning of the module.

Figure 5 Student's environmental concerns.