1. Newshound Essay (20%)
This assignment requires you to consider a recent (last 6 months) business-related article from print, broadcast or online and apply the concepts you are learning to the specifics of the situation. This is an individual assessment task.
Specifically, you will need to use at least two concepts from Topics 1-4 to analyse the case described in the article. You may choose the concepts that you feel are most relevant, but you must choose two and they must be related to Topics1- 4 of Social and Environmental Sustainability (not other courses).
More information relating to this assessment task will be provided in class and placed on the Moodle site for the course.
Your Newshound essay should provide an informed and original analysis. Specifically, the assessment criteria will be based on four components:
1. Quality of analysis and depth of reflection
2. Evidence of your thinking about the case and its relation to the conceptual material
3. Consistent, clear and well-supported argument
4. Structure, written expression, length & presentation
2. Sustainability Champion Report (40%) and Sustainability Champion Presentation (20%)
This assignment has both an individual (report) and a group component (presentation). It involves your investigation of an organisation that is considered to be a ‘Sustainability Champion’. Full project instructions will be available from the course website after the first session.
The purpose of this assessment is to apply sustainability thinking skills to an actual organisation. The project is designed to enable you to apply the theory discussed in the course in the setting of real-world examples and to develop your skills in project management, teamwork, organisational analysis, report writing and delivering a presentation.
You will need to form project teams of 3-5 students from your cohort. Membership of project groups should be finalised by the end of the first-weekend session. Thereafter, groups would be required to nominate a business as a sustainability champion on a first come first serve basis (no two teams can choose the same organisation).
Each member of the group will be required to present an analysis of the nominated "Sustainability Champion" in the form of a written consultant-style report of no more than 3000 words in length. Thereafter, the entire group will provide an integrated analysis of the nominated "Sustainability Champion" in the form of an in-class presentation (15mins).
3. Participation (10%)
This component entails the assessment of the level of your informed contribution to activities (face to face and online) over the whole semester. Marks will not be awarded for simply attending class, we require that you are actively involved in the course. This may involve raising questions, making insightful comments or proposing or building on ideas to solve problems. In order to participate in an informed manner, it is essential that you have attended the lecture and read/viewed at least the main reading/media for that week and that you are ready to reflect on it in class. You should also note down issues or concepts that you do not understand and raise them in the workshop.
We will be looking at your contributions to discussions, participation in class exercises and other learning activities in class. You will be expected to offer your own ideas, experience, opinions etc, as well as respond to comments and contributions from your fellow students. Students are encouraged to practice effective communication skills with your classmates, including active listening, questioning, positive feedback and empathy. Quality rather than quantity is important – participation does not mean dominating the discussion or discouraging the input of others. We aim to foster a culture where diversity and collaboration are celebrated.
4. Living Your Values Exercise (10%)
This assessment task will center on an in-class exercise that involves you identifying your core values, developing, and sharing your goals to better align your actions with these values. This could involve goals with respect to living more sustainability and/or professional goals that relate to making a positive impact. Accompanying this exercise are two brief reflections (250-500 words each) at the mid-point and end of the course. Further details, including templates for this exercise, will be provided on Day 1 of the course. As you prepare for this course, it would be helpful to reflect on the following questions: "What are my core values?" followed by "Why are they important to be?".