Achievement

Local-to-global sustainability provides the fundamental theory for social-ecological resilience in the two Alaskan IGERT programs through a blend of in-class and distance-delivered instruction reaching 29 students across three campuses. The course was co-taught by an anthropologist experienced in distance delivery and an ecologist knowledgeable about social-ecological resilience. In-class role-playing drew distance students into the within-class dynamics, and group projects allowed distance students to work together on projects that built on their particular interests. This increased the awareness of all students to the inputs and expertise of the distance students. On-line readings and powerpoint presentations enabled all students to readily access course material. Despite the extra challenges associated with distance delivery and the large class size (twice the size of previous classes), this course received the best student evaluations in the 10-year history of the course.