Title: Industrial environmental education: an enabling strategy for design for the environment (DFE)

Authors: Patrick D. Eagan

Addresses: Program Director/Assistant Professor, Engineering Professional Development, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 432 N. Lake St., Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA

Abstract: This paper describes some of the course design elements that lead to successful design for the environment courses in industrial settings. Developing an environmental education program can enable and facilitate the incorporation of environmental thought processes and design approaches into the design function of a company. Targeting the design function affords leverage to achieve business success with manufacturing processes and products that have environmental attributes. I recommend that course designers address the following elements: upper management support, class composition and scope, the job relevance of the education, team-based education, recruitment of teachers, identification of class participants, creating activity-based collaborative learning environments, and cultural adaptation of educational material where appropriate.

Keywords: industrial environmental education; design for environment; DFE; course design; continuing environmental education; industrial ecology; continuing education culture; activity-based learning; collaborative learning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCEELL.1998.030122

International Journal of Continuing Engineering Education and Life-Long Learning, 1998 Vol.8 No.1/2, pp.21 - 29

Published online: 11 Dec 2009 *

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