Sustainability perspectives of graduate students on transportation systems and management


Brooks R. M., Çetin M., Kavuturu J.

120th ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Atlanta, GA, United States Of America, 23 - 26 June 2013 identifier

  • Publication Type: Conference Paper / Full Text
  • City: Atlanta, GA
  • Country: United States Of America
  • Ondokuz Mayıs University Affiliated: No

Abstract

Graduate students take transportation and systems management course routinely in the college of engineering. They have been taught in the traditional way using the standard lecture format. In this method, sustainability is taught as one of the many constraints by spending approximately one hour of lecture. Both the method of standard lecture and the duration of the lecture are insufficient for equipping the students not only for understanding the concepts of sustainability, but also mastering and committing them for contributing their share for the sustainable environment. The students were taught in every lecture the appropriate component(s) of sustainability and related ethics. The students were given 4 assignments on these topics. The lectures and the student assignments explored various problems such as global society, business perspectives and people. At the beginning of the course the students were given a pre-intervention survey on their sustainability perspective on transportation systems and management. At the end of the course the same survey was given. The average grade of the pre-intervention survey was 66% and that of the post-intervention survey was 78%, and 18% improvement over the pre-intervention. The results were significantly different with a calculated t value of 2.9. The t-test confirmed statistical improvement at significant confidence level with an alpha value of 0.05. Many students wrote excellent comments on several specific problems of transportation systems and management. They were analyzed and graded. Students have shown their personal contribution on keeping the sustainability at present level. They considered innovative and practical concepts such as switching to hybrid vehicles, telework, and combining trips. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2013.