This proposal is for the course GEO4-2522, an 7.5 ECTS elective course in Period 1 of the 2nd year of the following M.Sc. programmes: Energy Science, Innovation Sciences, Sustainable Business and Innovation, and Sustainable Development. 

Background information

The project contributes to the themes Energy Transition & Sustainability, and the application domain of the built environment, which directly touch upon how relevant stakeholders and citizens’ initiatives engage in the energy transition. We aim to place citizens/households’ energy-related behaviour at the centre of the energy transition, which is recognised by academics, policy, and industry bodies as crucial for implementing a truly low-carbon energy
system.

Aims

The project aim (as part of GEO4-2522 ‘Energy in the Built Environment’) is twofold:

1.Develop innovative educational initiatives with an impact on current curricula, i.e., support lifelong learning as part of an online community on urban energy, and expand our activities with focus on direct interaction between students, lecturers and external stakeholders, and between students and their peers during the end-of-course symposium.
2.Develop collaborations with relevant stakeholders to tackle sustainability challenges, i.e., build and maintain an online community on urban energy to stay connected with our alumni and relevant stakeholders/experts outside the university

Project description

The project activities are in-line with the Strategic Plan, and will become an integral part of the course with a permanent place in the curriculum. Specifically, the USO support fund is essential for ensuring the long-term embedment of the proposed initiatives in the course in the following ways:

• Social media pages: the USO fund will support the design of templates (for creating posts & stories in our online pages; See Link1, Link2) and graphics that can be reused over the coming years. The UD and student-assistant hours will be used to create content for the social media pages, and to establish a framework so that future content can be created based on voluntary contributions of colleagues and
  students, thus ensuring the long-term continuity of community building.
• CEL activities: there are practical reasons why we want to extend our collaboration with more partners. Since external partners voluntarily contribute to our CEL course activities, it is essential to maintain connections with more than just one partner, since their availability might vary from year to year, to ensure that we have alternatives if one partner becomes unavailable due to limited time and human
  resources or unforeseen circumstances. The design and implementation of new CEL activities in the course are supported by a support fund provided by the CEL SIG. Once the new cases have been defined, and the course CEL material is ready, future collaboration with partners can be guaranteed without grant money, given the availability of our external partners.
• The end-of-the-course symposium: A first successful trial of the end-of-course symposium took place in November 2022, (see poster in the Appendix) and it was embraced with enthusiasm by our students who could present their mini-review papers in a conference-like setting. The USO fund will be used partially for covering the materials/catering costs for the 2nd end-of-the-course symposium in November 2023. The SD department has acknowledged the added value of this learning opportunity for the students, and we are currently in discussions with our Department Manager, Ms. Otten, A. (Annemarieke) and Ms. Belarbi, S. (Siham), about how the symposium related costs can be structurally attributed to the course in the coming years.

Results

Particularly, we want to implement and deliver the following:

• Continue building a community in social media around the topic ‘Energy in the Built Environment’ and the course GEO4-2522, to stay connected with our alumni, teachers, and guest speakers, and to connect with other relevant stakeholders.
• Organise meetings/workshops with external partners where we can showcase our CEL
  experiences within the course, to brainstorm, and to explore future CEL activities.
• Organise a symposium at the end of the course, GEO4-2522, to resemble a conference
  by letting the students’ presenting their assignments (i.e., mini-review papers).