Drs Don Chen and Jim Jones submitted a paper entitled "Adding Green to the Curriculum: An Examination of Integrating Green and Sustainable Building Practices into the Construction Curriculum from Customers' Viewpoints" to the NAIT (National Association of Industrial Technology) 2008 Conference.  The paper was accepted for publication, and was ranked as the top paper in the Construction track, and is now be submitted to the "Best Conference Paper" process.  Of 38 conference paper submissions, 16 were accepted, a rejection rate of 58%.

Adding Green to the Curriculum: An Examination of Integrating Green and Sustainable Building Practices into the Construction Curriculum from Customers' Viewpoints

Abstract

There is little doubt that green/sustainable construction is gaining increasing attention in both the construction industry and construction education. Various organizations, from the United Nations to contractor associations, have called for green/sustainable practices to be integrated into the curriculum, and various approaches have been tried at different institutions.  However, many barriers to this change were identified (Carolyn S Hayles and Sarah E Holdsworth, 2006). By surveying the viewpoints of current students and recent graduates of the Construction Management program, mapping how and where sustainability was being taught in the current curriculum, analyzing collected information, and finally embedding sustainability content into existing courses or designing stand alone courses, the researchers will be able to identify the motivations and barriers for/to curriculum change, develop a flexible change framework that is replicable by other institutions, and make general recommendations about the types of models and approaches that can be implemented for the change.