Educators at UBC who seek to incorporate sustainability practices in their teaching can choose from the following diverse selection of initiatives. Programs are offered by UBC's Centre for Teaching, Learning & Technology, the UBC Farm, the UBC Campus Sustainability Office, and the UBC Learning Exchange. Most initiatives are open to students and staff as well as faculty members.

Sustainability Education Intensive

The Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (formerly Centre for Teaching & Academic Growth (TAG)) offers an annual Sustainability Education Intensive (SEI) for faculty, staff, post-docs, graduate and undergraduate students working to transform post-secondary courses, programs and initiatives to enhance or integrate a sustainability focus. The SEI provides structure and support over 2.5 days of programming, with follow-up support studios, and a final showcase event. Intensives are open to post-secondary educators, including students, from UBC and beyond. To apply or to find out more about this program, please check our blog, or email us.

Sustainability Across the Curriculum Working Group

The Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (formerly Centre for Teaching & Academic Growth (TAG)) coordinates a Sustainability Across the Curriculum Working Group that is comprised of undergraduate and graduate students, alumni, post-docs, staff, faculty and community members who are interested in sustainability education. A regular newsletter is sent out, highlighting upcoming events or initiatives, such as sustainability seminars that cover a wide variety of topics related to enhancing sustainability education at UBC. The group meets occasionally face-to-face and everyone is welcome to join.

Integrating Sustainability into Transdisciplinary Programs for Experiential Education

The UBC Farm offers a unique on-campus field site for experiential learning and provides support for instructors from any discipline who wish to integrate field components into their courses.  Curricular integration can range from simple site visits, discussion, and case studies to in-depth long-term field research or community service activities. Co-curricular opportunities including volunteer work in a range of programs and approximately 40 public-access workshops per year are also available.

UBC SEEDS Program

UBC SEEDS (Social Ecological Economic Development Studies) is Western Canada’s first academic program that combines the energy and enthusiasm of students, the intellectual capacity of faculty and the commitment and expertise of staff to integrate sustainability on campus.  Using the campus as a living lab, the SEEDS program brings undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff together to work collaboratively on applied, accredited research projects that address real-life campus sustainability issues.

UBC Community Learning Initiative

The UBC Community Learning Initiative, an initiative of the Learning Exchange, offers a range of support to course instructors who wish to integrate community service-learning (CSL) or Community-Based Research (CBR) projects into their existing courses or who wish to develop new courses that have a CSL or CBR component. Community Service Learning (CSL) has three key elements: classroom learning; volunteer work that responds to community-identified priorities; and structured reflection activities that challenge students to make connections between what they are studying and their experiences in the community.