Concept Paper. for an innovative, collaborative, multi-sited graduate course. International Environmental Policy Consultancy

Transcription

1 Rev. Draft 27 June 2012 Concept Paper for an innovative, collaborative, multi-sited graduate course International Environmental Policy Consultancy by David Sonnenfeld 1, Bettina Bluemling 2, and Zhang Lei 3 I. Overview Faculty & students at three universities on three continents would work together in this hybrid, online and face-to-face, master's level, project-oriented (capstone-type) course on comparative international environmental policy. Integrating in different ways with master's programs at each of the three institutions involved, the course would encompass academic instruction on environmental policymaking in China, Europe, and the US; applied training in academic consultancy skills; and coordinated group consultancy with an international environmental organization or agency. Approximately 8-10 students would participate from each university, for a total of graduate students. At ESF, the course is targeted especially for MPS students in Environmental Studies, Environmental Science and related fields, but will be open to interested MS and PhD students, as well. Students in the ESF's new Peace Corps International Master's program may find the course particularly interesting. As necessary or desirable, the course could also be marketed through the Division of Outreach as a continuing education course for non-matriculated students. At Wageningen University (WUR), the course will be integrated as a section within with the institution's graduate Academic Consultancy Program, a required course for a variety of master's degree programs. At Renmin University (RUC), the course initially will be integrated into a closely-related, already-existing graduate course; in the future, it could become part of a new, joint, international master's program involving the partner institutions. The course will be constructed on a platform combining several distance-learning technologies. These include online videoconferencing; live and recorded videostreaming of lectures; a dedicated social networking site (to be determined); shared online resources, via Google Docs (now Google Drive) or other 'cloud' domains. A grant of 14,400 for AY has been received from Wageningen University's Division of Distance Learning to assist with the infrastructural design & start-up costs. 1 Dept. of Environmental Studies, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY, dsonn@esf.edu 2 Environmental Policy Group, Dept. of Social Sciences, Wageningen University, the Netherlands, bettina.bluemling@wur.nl 3 Dept. of Natural Resource and Environmental Policy, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Renmin University, Beijing, China, lei.leizhang@gmail.com

2 Rev. Draft June 2012 Substantive focus This is project-oriented (capstone-type) graduate course on international environmental policymaking in comparative perspective. The scholarly starting point will combine perspectives on both the convergence of national/ regional environmental policies into global environmental policies; and the challenges and opportunities of national environmental policy implementations of supranational environmental policies and problems. This didactic dimension will be developed across all three sites in Part I of the course (see accompanying Timetable spreadsheet), through lectures, discussions, and practice assignments. The latter will be topical in nature, helping bridge between the introductory, didactic part of the course, and the later, applied course components. As a key, integral component of the course, students from ESF, WUR & RUC will work together as a fixed-term consultancy group for an international organization, i.e. an intergovernmental agency (e.g. UN Division of Sustainable Development, ADB, UNEP, IEA) or transnational NGO (e.g. WWF, IUCN, FoEI). For a given year, the organization will be engaged well in advance as cooperating or commissioning 'client'. Students will fulfill the terms of reference of a commission from the organization, e.g. to assist the organization in preparing for an upcoming international conference or negotiation on an environmental topic, an existing global environmental policy, a present environmental discussion or phenomenon. The commissioning organization and topic will vary from year to year, but there could be continuity, as well. As a potential 'bonus' or reward for outstanding effort, (some of the) students and instructors could present their results at a related international conference (Rio+20, COP, etc.) or meeting. In fulfilling their commission, students would work together on research (analysis of available data, surveys, interviews) and data presentation (report, multimedia, web-based or other form) on some aspect of how various actors in their respective countries / regions are addressing (or might better address) a particular global environmental problem. Insights from these studies and their work together will strengthen intercultural understanding between the students in the three sites on the nature of global environmental problems and potential solutions. Organization The course will be organized in three parts: academic, skills training and experiential (see Figure 1). In Part I, students will learn a framework for comparative analysis of international environmental policymaking in China, Europe, and the US drawing on the instructors combined expertise in these areas, and will gain background about a particular global environmental problem. In Part II, students will receive training in practical consultancy skills (e.g. negotiating clear terms of reference, organizing project work teams, communicating with the client, delivering the final product). In Part III, they will

3 Rev. Draft June 2012 carry out a consultancy project for an international intergovernmental, governmental, or non-governmental organization. II. Collaboration Institutional partners - Dept. of Environmental Studies, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF), USA - Environmental Policy Group, Dept. of Social Sciences, Wageningen University, NL - Dept. of Environmental and Natural Resources Management, School of Social Sciences, Renmin University, China Targeted graduate programs - SUNY-ESF o Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in Environmental Studies o Peace Corps Masters International Program (PCMIP) in Environmental Studies o MPS in Environmental Science o Master of Science (MS) in Environmental Studies o PhD in Environmental and Natural Resource Policy - Wageningen University o In principles all Master programs (since they all encompass life sciences. The project could however be particularly relevant for Master of International Development Studies and Master of Environmental Sciences. - Renmin University o Master of Environmental Economics and Management o Master of Natural Resources Management o Master of Environmental Policy and Management Instructional staffing Three co-instructors, one in each location: - SUNY-ESF: David Sonnenfeld, PhD - WUR: Bettina Bluemling, PhD - Renmin University: Zhang Lei, PhD As part of its Academic Consultancy Project, Wageningen University will assign an additional instructor ('process coach') to facilitate intercultural learning and group process. Cooperating partner organization ('client') Each year, an intergovernmental agency (UN Division of Sustainable Development, ADB, UNEP, IEA etc.) or transnational NGO (WWF, IUCN, FoEI etc.)

4 Rev. Draft June 2012 will be engaged as cooperating partner for the course. III. Course learning objectives Content related learning goals Learn about a particular international environmental problem and its global and national dimensions (If applicable, learn about international policies addressing the respective problem) Learn and discussing national policies (as part of / response to international policies) Learn about the implementation of national policies and their implementation contexts for all three cultures Skills-related learning goals Systematically analyze and compare the implementation of an international policy across different contexts by deconstructing it into its major constituents and identify its current and future dynamics and vulnerabilities in different country contexts Determine, with a team and in interaction with a client, the goals of a project and formulate tasks and a project plan on the basis of their disciplinary knowledge and general academic skills and attitude Adjust, with their team and in interaction with the client, the formulated project goals and plan when and if necessary Defend and sell their viewpoints and conclusions in a professional and representative way and academically correct Contribute at an academic level to the execution of an interdisciplinary project both in terms of process and content related to their own disciplinary training by gathering, selecting and analysing information and integrating this into project deliverables 4 Learn how to address environmental problems in an interculturally sensitive way, using different virtual communication environments Understand how to use communication technologies and facilities for cross-country collaborations 4 Source: Learning Outcomes, Academic Consultancy Training program, Wageningen University, the Netherlands.

5 Rev. Draft June 2012 IV. Distance learning/ course integration approach The collaborative, international, (partially) online-learning course will take place in a coordinated, but largely asynchronous manner in the three locations. The three project sites are 6 to 12 hours apart by time zone, as follows: Syracuse, NY -5 GMT Wageningen, NL +1 GMT Beijing, China +7 GMT Given these differences, the collaboration will be based on a variety of ways of interaction, employing ICT in different ways, involving different objectives for interaction. The below listed ICT tools represent our current state of thinking, but remain under discussion. Joint virtual meetings Objective: to update each other and harmonize the three sites plans and progress. Frequency: four times throughout the project, i.e. joint launch with client, mid-term presentations, presentations of preliminary product to client, final product presentation to client. Participants: students, instructors, client; total number of ICT tool: video-conferencing or web-conferencing. Interaction method: one facilitator at each site moderating the interaction; video conference meeting schedule agreed among coaches and client before the conference. Sub-theme groups Objective: 1 2 students at each university will form a group of 3 6 students to jointly work on a sub-theme; they will collaborate on writing the sub-theme part of the consultancy report. Frequency: to be arranged by the student group, from daily to every two three days. Participants: 1 2 student/s from each side; total number of 6 students per sub-theme group. ICT tool: Social networking site (Ning or other platform, TBD) and ing; web-conferencing for direct conversation. Interaction method: on the basis of a lecture by one (or more) of the instructors, students at each site will first discuss ways of interaction with the other students, then they interact with them keeping in mind some principles in intercultural virtual communication.

6 Rev. Draft June 2012 Web-lecturing Participants: a group of students (plus lecturer) from one site, and a lecturer (from another site); total number of 11. Frequency: six lectures from the three instructors will be put online. The students from the other site can watch and discuss it together with their local instructor at a time suitable to their schedule. Objective: learning about Chinese, US and EU / Dutch environmental politics and the political system and one case study (that is related to the project) each. ICT tool: Social networking website. Interaction method: recording the lecture and then putting it online the social networking site. Watching and discussing the lecture within the group of the own university, facilitated by local instructor. Whole group exchange Participants: all students and lecturers; total number of about 35. Frequency: possibly high interaction in the beginning. Objective: to get to know each other. ICT tool: social networking platform Interaction method: before or at the beginning of the course, each student would post a profile on the social network, with her/his professional background, program, & research interests. This will help students get to know each other and select their subtheme groups based on joint interests. V. Support requirements Distance-learning technologies - Video-recording of lectures - Web conferencing platform (Skype, Sharepoint, etc.) for live meetings with client and small-group meetings - Dedicated social networking website (for asynchronous collaboration) Smart classroom Each site will require a small, dedicated 'smart' classroom with the appropriate hardware & software to meet the technical specifications for the course, mutually-agreed well in advance (fall 2012) Social networking platform (internal) Support for design and set up of the dedicated social networking site (included in WUR grant)

7 Rev. Draft June 2012 Website (external) Support for design and set up of a dedicated external website for general information about and promotion of the course (included in WUR grant) VI. Scheduling Offered for the first time in Fall 2013 (beginning last week of August/ first week of Sept.); thereafter, taught each fall. * * * Appendix A. Possible consultancy topics Examples of phenomena that could be looked at - disasters with international dimension where international coordination is required (sea level change, hurricanes, flooding), waste shipment, nuclear fallout - climate refugees, environmental refugees On a policy level - global climate change policy (e.g. REDD/ REDD+) - food versus fuels / food and energy policy - land grabbing (phenomenon, no international policy so far as we know) - trade in hazardous waste - Basel convention On the level of citizens / citizen-consumers / consumers - eco-certification - international standards (e.g. food standards) - labeling and registration and use of genetically modified food - alternative fuel transportation (get consumer dimension deeper)/ standards for after-use of car materials - farmers associations and their role in food security - financial incentives for solar energy use on household level - financial incentives for energy efficiency increase (IEA as the common forum and policy initiator)