Service-Learning Assessment: Sustainability Competencies in Construction Education

Abstract

Under the umbrella of a departmental initiative termed CM Cares, faculty from Colorado State University have developed a service-learning course to teach and implement concepts related to sustainability in construction education. The course has met with significant success and received recognition from community partners, elementary to graduate students, faculty members, and department and university administration. Beyond the positive response to experiential learning and community action, this paper uses data from the second course offering to assess the course’s effectiveness for teaching sustainability competencies. The writers implemented multiple techniques to collect data and assess perceived learning with regard to sustainability competencies. Techniques included surveys, reflection essays, and concept maps. Overall findings were mixed but suggest that significant learning about sustainability can occur using service-learning as a teaching technique in construction education despite (and perhaps because) students question the value of what they have learned and how to implement it. Specifically, students report increased appreciation of the challenges as well as benefits related to sustainability. The contribution of this paper is the successful application of community-based research constructs to a service-learning course case study to assess its effectiveness at developing key sustainability competencies. By documenting a successful case study, this paper supports future efforts to integrate sustainability into construction education, encourages further and similar course development, and provides a model for future service-learning assessment research.