The Office of Sustainability, acting as a resource hub looks to inspire and equip the campus community to engage and lead sustainability initiatives and programs. Here are a few tips for incorporating sustainability into course material:
- Key Competencies: Practical Approaches to Teaching Sustainability, joint project by the Sustainability Curriculum Consortium and AASHE with an aim to provide practical guidance on how to effectively teach sustainability competencies
- Teaching Sustainability Competencies across the Disciplines (2025 Edition): A Guide for Instructors. Created by 'The Scaling Up Sustainability Across the Curriculum Community of Practice', Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)
- Education for Sustainable Development Curriculum Design Toolkit (York U)
- Education for Sustainable Development Goals: Learning Objectives (UNESCO)
- Campus as a Living Lab. Encourage students to think of the campus as a sustainability laboratory; assign projects that allow students to create solutions to sustainability issues they identify in their own classrooms, dormitories and dining halls. Have a brainstorming session with the Sustainability Office and/or other faculties, connecting students with existing campus resources and local organizations.
- Embrace interdisciplinarity. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals provide a broader understanding and framework for the interconnectedness of 'sustainability'; review the goals and gain inspiration for course content, syllabi updates, group projects and new course development.
- Avoid doom and gloom.
- Peer engagement and support. Engage students in group projects and discussions
- Indigenous Knowledges provided through Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL)
- Penn State resource on Teaching Sustainability
Additional resources can be found at SDG Week Canada along with Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and York University’s SDG Curriculum Champion videos.
Tip sheet for integrating sustainability into curriculum was created summarizing this information and additional resources.