ACE2077 : Sustainable Solutions
- Offered for Year: 2021/22
- Module Leader(s): Dr Elisa Lopez-Capel
- Lecturer: Dr Kirsty McInnes, Dr Thomas Penfold, Mrs Julia Robinson, Dr Amy Proctor, Mrs Helen Adamson, Dr Maureen Wakefield, Dr Lee Higham, Dr Ankush Prashar, Dr Mark Ireland, Dr Hanno Kossen, Miss Helen Atkinson
- Owning School: Natural and Environmental Sciences
- Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
| Semester 1 Credit Value: | 10 |
| ECTS Credits: | 5.0 |
Aims
The overall purpose of the module is to develop students’ understanding of the complex challenges faced by organisations / companies in the arena of sustainability and the linkages between these specific challenges and the wider UN Sustainable Development Goals. The module provides students with the opportunity to work with an external organisation on a problem and generate a sustainable solution. The students will work in small teams with colleagues from other degree programmes and bring principles and practice from their own disciplines to application within the solution. At the end of an intense week of development the team will pitch their idea to the challenge sponsor having considered social, economic and environmental aspects of their proposal. The module allows students to participate in a problem based, experiential learning challenge, as part of the ‘Engaged Newcastle’ scheme and to consider future career development opportunities.
Outline Of Syllabus
Module content week 7 to week 9) prior to challenge
Introduction to the module and career opportunities / skills development.
Placement opportunities event
Global citizenship, study abroad event
Careers fair / Future Worlds of Work
Your disciplinary focus within interdisciplinary teams, Belbin type exercise
Announcement of companies and organisations that will provide challenges. Students submit their application to participate, including evidence (skills profile and cv) on what they will contribute to a team based challenge.
Project planning, management and the skills required for responsible innovation.
Challenge activities week 10 and week 12
Wk10 Day 1: Company challenges are presented, Students split into groups to work on specific challenges. Lecture and activities on problem solving, enterprise, and the UN sustainable development approach.
Week 10 Day 2: Research skills (finding information on innovations) and development of research ideas; student teams meet / skype their challenge sponsors to discuss ideas and gain early feedback. Independent team based study
Week 10 Day 3: Skills development on how to pitch ideas and how to write a business case. independent team based study.
Week 12 Day 4: Development of ideas / case supported by meeting / skype call with challenge sponsors and pitch practice.
Week 12 Day 5: Student teams pitch their ideas (sponsor feedback). Selected groups compete in final elevator pitches (students / sponsors vote for category winners); followed by celebration / networking event.
Post challenge week
Business case submission and self-reflection (skills profile and CV update)
Teaching Methods
Teaching Activities
| Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Structured Guided Learning | Lecture materials | 12 | 1:00 | 12:00 | A combination of short recordings of lecture material and text published on VLE (CANVAS) |
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 1 | 2:00 | 2:00 | Online - self-reflection project selection before challenge activity (formative) |
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 1 | 10:00 | 10:00 | Online - group presentation (25% summative) during challenge activities |
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 1 | 15:00 | 15:00 | Online - group report (75% summative) following from challenge activities |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 5 | 1:00 | 5:00 | module talks by companies and academic experts |
| Guided Independent Study | Directed research and reading | 11 | 1:00 | 11:00 | Online - module lecturer will give students relevant reading for module topics |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Small group teaching | 1 | 2:00 | 2:00 | Placement and year abroad talks |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Workshops | 4 | 2:00 | 8:00 | module workshops |
| Guided Independent Study | Student-led group activity | 32 | 1:00 | 32:00 | Online group activities throughout semester |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Drop-in/surgery | 3 | 1:00 | 3:00 | drop-in tutorials to support group report and peer-assesment (buddycheck) |
| Total | 100:00 |
Teaching Rationale And Relationship
The lectures provide an introduction to the format of the task, ways of working and establish the underlying terminology and principles involved in responsible and sustainable innovation in a global and specific context (knowledge outcomes). The workshops and guided independent study allow students to develop skills required to work within teams seeking sustainable solutions for the challenge sponsor and to reflect more widely on opportunities to develop their profile further outside of this module (knowledge and skills outcomes). The student led small group activity allows students to engage directly with the external organisations and present specific solutions to the sponsors (skills outcomes).
Assessment Methods
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
Other Assessment
| Description | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | 1 | M | 75 | group report (3000 words approx excluding references and appendices) |
| Prof skill assessmnt | 1 | M | 25 | 5min pechakucha group presentation (end of challenge) |
Formative Assessments
| Description | Semester | When Set | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Written exercise | 1 | M | Self-reflection on team contribution (survey prior to challenge) |
| Prof skill assessmnt | 1 | M | Company meeting on group sustainable solution proposal |
| Written exercise | 1 | M | self-reflection on skills development (survey after challenge) |
| Written exercise | 1 | M | peer-assessment (buddycheck on group work) |
Assessment Rationale And Relationship
As the format of the module is predominantly a problem based, experiential learning challenge, with the aim to allow students to develop professional skills in a multidisciplinary team based setting it is not appropriate to measure performance on the normal academic scale, including self and peer assessment. The self-reflection exercises will challenge students to think about their contribution within multidisciplinary teams and how they develop their employability skills while working on a sustainable solution as part of an authentic assessment. The ‘pitch’ presentation will assess oral communication skills and the ability to summarise the salient points on PowerPoint slides. The short report (business proposal) will assess professional skills.
An alternative assessment will be set for any Semester 1 Study Abroad student taking this module, who will not be in Newcastle during the January assessment period.
Reading Lists
Timetable
- Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
- ACE2077's Timetable