ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the partnership of San José State University (SJSU) faculty, Librarian Peggy Cabrera, and Lecturer in Art History Dr. Elizabeth Carroll, who restructured their pedagogical practices with the aim to create a more socially responsible curriculum. Having adopted the King Library Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certification module into the design history survey curriculum, general education students can understand the importance of buildings in their everyday lives. The collaboration between the two faculty offers students the opportunity to learn about socially responsible building design to increase their awareness of sustainability (equity, economics, and environment), share strategies to mitigate their climate change impact, and build resilience. The co-authors will assess the curriculum changes made to improve students’ classroom experiences and their response to online teaching through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first half of this chapter will describe the authors’ goals and work that serves as the foundation for their partnership. The second half of the chapter focuses on the various strategies undertaken by the partners to increase student engagement and learning. The authors address their goals related to increasing student understanding of social equity and how they will assess students’ learning of the new credits.
