Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
5.8
3.9
Journals
Sustainability
Special Issues
Intersecting Issues of Sustainability and Inclusivity in Engineering Education
sustainability-logo
Submit to Sustainability Review for Sustainability Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

► Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser
share announcement

Intersecting Issues of Sustainability and Inclusivity in Engineering Education

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Education and Approaches".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 September 2022) | Viewed by 8455

Special Issue Editors

Dr. David B. Knight

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Engineering Education, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
Interests: educational environments and systems; pathways to, through, and beyond STEM higher education; intersection between policy and organizational contexts; organizational change; international engineering education
Dr. Nicole Barclay

E-Mail Website
Assistant Guest Editor
Engineering Technology and Construction Management, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA
Interests: evaluating diverse pedagogy strategies within the classroom to create effective learning experiences for students; engineering education for sustainable infrastructure; investigating community and stakeholder interactions for urban water infrastructure sustainability
Dr. Frederick Paige

E-Mail Website
Assistant Guest Editor
The Charles E. Via Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
Interests: energy-efficient housing technologies; sustainable community collaborative design; learning outside of the classroom; online course design; community engagement; environmental justice; undergraduate research training
Dr. Xiaofeng “Denver” Tang

E-Mail Website
Assistant Guest Editor
Institute of Education, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Interests: understanding and facilitating engineering education reform; educating engineers who can demonstrate leadership, responsibility, and innovation; engineering ethics; international engineering education; engineering cultures
Dr. Andrew Katz

E-Mail Website
Assistant Guest Editor
Department of Engineering Education, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA
Interests: issues of environmental sustainability; automated technologies; human health; the role of ethical decision making in each of those areas

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to submit manuscripts for a Special Issue of Sustainability entitled “Intersecting Issues of Sustainability and Inclusivity in Engineering Education”. We see sustainability and inclusivity—and the ways in which we educate and engage students and the general public about those concepts—as being among the most pressing issues facing society today. Indeed, a focus on these two concepts, broadly conceived, brings together many elements of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals to transform our world.

We hope that researchers from a range of disciplines find ways to connect to this theme. A wide range of research areas are invited to this Special Issue, as demonstrated by the following questions—though please note that this list is not exhaustive:

  • How can we effectively teach issues of sustainability and inclusivity together, across all levels of both formal and informal education?
  • How does “engineering” intersect with environmental, economic, and social sustainability?
  • Who tends to engage in the work that bridges sustainability and inclusivity?
  • When we think about sustainability education, what populations tend to be areas of focus? What populations seem to be left out of the conversation?
  • How do issues pertaining to environmental justice intersect with sustainability, and what are the implications for education?
  • How might we critically interrogate “sustainability”? What are the different ways in which “inclusivity” is encompassed within that term? How does that vary internationally or across regional contexts, and what are the implications for education?
  • What role does extracurricular engagement play in including underrepresented groups to further their education on sustainability topics in higher education?
  • Why do identified problems persist in institutional systems which promote sustainability but underserve specific populations?
  • How can online education increase access to information for marginalized groups interested in gaining access to information about sustainable engineering practices?

In this Special Issue, original empirical and theoretical research articles and reviews are welcome, and we hope to incorporate a wide range of disciplinary perspectives.

We look forward to receiving your contributions. 

Dr. David B. Knight
Guest Editor

Dr. Nicole Barclay
Dr. Frederick Paige
Dr. Xiaofeng “Denver” Tang
Dr. Andrew Katz
Assistant Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • diversity, equity, and inclusion
  • undergraduate education
  • graduate education
  • workforce development
  • secondary education
  • community engagement
  • sustainable development
  • environmental justice
  • sustainability education
  • social responsibility and ethics

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

17 pages, 1889 KiB  
Article
The Personalized and Inclusive MOOC: Using Learning Characteristics and Quality Principles in Instructional Design
by Martín Bustamante-León, Paúl Herrera, Luis Domínguez-Granda, Tammy Schellens, Peter L. M. Goethals, Otilia Alejandro and Martin Valcke
Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 15121; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142215121 - 15 Nov 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1344
Abstract
In Ecuador, 30% of the population does not consume drinking water of good quality. One of the causes is related to the deficiency in the technical skills of water operators because some have not had access to elementary, high school or higher education [...] Read more.
In Ecuador, 30% of the population does not consume drinking water of good quality. One of the causes is related to the deficiency in the technical skills of water operators because some have not had access to elementary, high school or higher education due to factors of extreme vulnerability. The Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), having an inclusive and accessible typology with attention to people at risk of social exclusion are an option to strengthen the skills of operators. Therefore, the goal of this study is to create an instructional design in MOOCs that responds to the characteristics and learning needs of a sample of 286 operators of the drinking water system. The instructional design is based on the information systems success model of DeLone and McLean and the quality principles of Merrill, Margaryan, Locke, Latham and Seijts. The results present an instructional design including quality content with objectives and learning strategies that respond to the learning characteristics of the operators as well as activities and resources with a cognitive, emotional, and behavioral didactic approach oriented at changing attitudes to learning. Finally, we can conclude that the developed instructional design promotes a more inclusive, equitable and quality education. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intersecting Issues of Sustainability and Inclusivity in Engineering Education)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

29 pages, 5669 KiB  
Article
Inclusive Design of Workspaces: Mixed Methods Approach to Understanding Users
by Olivia Phoeby Narenthiran, Jose Torero and Michael Woodrow
Sustainability 2022, 14(6), 3337; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063337 - 12 Mar 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 6106
Abstract
Accessible design within the built environment has often focused on mobility conditions and has recently widened to include mental health. Additionally, as one in seven are neurodivergent (including conditions such as ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and dyspraxia), this highlights a growing need for designing [...] Read more.
Accessible design within the built environment has often focused on mobility conditions and has recently widened to include mental health. Additionally, as one in seven are neurodivergent (including conditions such as ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and dyspraxia), this highlights a growing need for designing for ‘non-visible’ conditions in addition to mobility. Emphasised by the growing disability pay gap and the disability perception gap, people with disabilities are still facing discrimination and physical barriers within the workplace. This research aimed to identify key ways of reducing physical barriers faced by people with a disability and thus encourage more comfortable and productive use of workspaces for all. Once the need for designing for a spectrum of users and inclusive workspace design was understood, a survey was then circulated to students and staff at a large university in the UK (working remotely from home), with the aim of understanding how people have adapted their home spaces and what barriers they continue to face. Quantitative and qualitative results were compared to the literature read with key issues emerging, such as separating work and rest from spaces in bedrooms. The survey findings and literature were evaluated, extracting key performance-based goals (e.g., productivity and focus within a study space) and prescriptive design features (e.g., lighting, furniture, and thermal comfort), whilst also considering the inclusivity of these features. The key conclusion establishes that, to achieve maximum benefit, it is important to work with the users to understand specific needs and identify creative and inclusive solutions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intersecting Issues of Sustainability and Inclusivity in Engineering Education)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop