ENVR 499: Environmental Senior Seminar
Tuesday 1:00-3:30
Dr. Michael Lewis
389 Holloway Hall
Office Hours: Wednesday 10:00-2:00, and by appointment
(410) 677-5020
http://faculty.salisbury.edu/~mllewis
The Senior Seminar for the Environmental Issues major is a collaborative, applied, problem-based course. Students are given a practical opportunity to apply tools and concepts from the courses they have taken for the Environmental Issues major. Together with governmental or non-governmental agencies the students will identify an environmental issue to be the focus of the seminar. Students will analyze the issue from interdisciplinary viewpoints (e.g., economic, political, philosophical, biological, historical, and others) and present analyses and recommendations to an appropriate audience in a formal multi-media presentation, as well as a written report. The course will emphasize teamwork, professionalism, information collection, and organization, as well as the application of students’ knowledge to solving a real world problem.
Although the class has one meeting per week, students will be expected to communicate by e-mail with each other and with me throughout the week about their progress. The actual class meetings will be spent summarizing progress, and planning the next week’s actions. Although the group will be working together, individual team members will be responsible for carrying out specific tasks as mutually agreed upon. There are no assigned course texts - readings will be based upon the environmental issue that the class decides to work on for the semester, and will be gathered and distributed collectively.
Each class meeting will have an agenda, and the students will take turns as the facilitator and the secretary.
Your grade will be the result of your participation in the class project throughout the semester, the quality of the class presentation, and the quality of the final written project. Although the class presentation and report are collaborative efforts, I will also be able to grade different individual inputs separately. You will be asked to turn in a final written reflection on the experience. Because this is a team project and the other students in the course will be working with you, I will ask for input from the other students regarding your contributions (and of course I will also be asking you for input about their contributions). Attendance is mandatory. Treat this course like a job, and notify your colleagues in advance of any illness or mishap that causes an absence. As we meet only once a week, each meeting is crucial. Your grade will be negatively affected by each absence.
This is a rare opportunity to combine a formal education experience with a chance to “make a difference.” The class will be as successful as you and your colleagues make it.
Meetings:
August 28: Introduction, Brainstorming
September 4: Final Selection of topic and planning for the semester
September 11: (TBA)
September 18:
September 25:
October 2:
October 9:
October 16:
October 23:
October 30:
November 6:
November 13:
November 20: Dress Rehearsal of Final Presentation
November 27: Final Presentation in Henson 211
December 4: Wrap-Up and last plans for written report
Final Reflections and Written Report due December 10