Dr. Johnson had five goals for this project. First, to develop 2-3 transdisciplinary cases about equity and environmental concerns throughout the coffee supply chain. Second, collaborate with coffee companies and organizations to build a class project that allows student groups to work with company representatives on a real-world issue related to equity throughout the supply chain. Third, to ensure that the course fits into the Sustainable Business Certificate (UG) and/or Concentration (MBA) so that it counts meaningfully and holistically for students taking the course. Fourth, to impact 60 students and 75+ instructors, and 3-5 organizations annually through the cases and class projects. These goals align most with Sustainability Next's Education Strategy to expand SDG concepts and skills, increase the number of majors, minors, and certificates that offer exploration of SDGs, as well as grow experiential courses.
Initially, Dr. Johnson intended to (1) create 2-3 exercises and (2) work with 3-5 coffee companies in the class during the past year, however she was only able to work with one directly. She had secured two others, but their staffing and priorities changed such that they were unable to visit with the class. Regardless, by creating and working on these exercises that drew upon the coffee industry to help course concepts "come to life," students were able to understand the concepts better.
Student understanding of the SDG concepts was assessed by Dr. Johnson inquiring about their understanding of concepts during class discussion before they did the exercise, and then once again upon completion of the exercise, during class discussion.
Dr. Johnson's work about the exercises has been presented to the Coffee Coalition for Racial Equity Education Subcommittee.
"I learned how to better structure my syllabus and how to work with graduate students who are collecting data for a class exercise. As a result, I would recommend other faculty work with graduate students towards this end (for class exercises), and that they attend the CTL session (Course Design Studio) that we attended last summer."