Inclusion of Sustainability into a First-Year Engineering Technology Course

Awareness of sustainability and its incorporation into engineering curricula and engineering design are of paramount importance across all engineering disciplines due to several factors, such as environmental protection, resource management, economic benefits, innovation/ competitiveness, and social responsibility.Furthermore, with the increased focus on accreditation criteria emphasizing engineering ethics and professional responsibilities across all four ABET commissions, the topic of sustainability has been considered an essential addition to the engineering technology curriculum.The engineering department at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) initiated the process to determine how sustainability can be included in the curriculum.The process was executed in the following steps: (1) participation in formal enrichment programs/seminars/trainings, (2) systematic review of course outlines and materials, (3) a monthly series of conversations that examined sustainability in the context of engineering education from academic, social, and personal perspectives, and (4) conducting a student survey to evaluate sustainability awareness.This formal process, along with the ABET accreditation continuous improvement process, deepened the awareness of how and what courses need to be improved.Most importantly, the discussions improved the clarity and understanding of how the same technical material can be delivered in different sections of the course with different course modalities across all engineering programs.In this work-in-progress, an online/in-person survey was conducted and used as the primary data-gathering tool.The survey concluded that while students have a general understanding of sustainability, they lack in-depth knowledge, practical application skills, awareness, and a positive attitude towards it.It is identified that our pathway to bridge the gap between general understanding and areas of deficiency should start with the gateway course, MET-1100 Technology Orientation, as it is common for all Engineering Technology and Pre-Engineering disciplines at the introductory level.Furthermore, the MET-1100 course outline has been revised and teaching materials have been updated to include sustainability along with Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and renewable energy.This preliminary research explored approaches to curriculum revision, teaching, and learning renewal.