Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
To address the increasing environmental impact of the global fiber, textiles, and clothing (FTC) industry, companies are shifting to circular economy (CE) practices. The CE model takes a regenerative approach that facilitates education for circularity and enhances employability of students entering the workforce. The overarching goal of this multi-institutional and transdisciplinary project is to enhance FTC curriculum with CE competencies to prepare next generation professionals to support the industry transformation toward circularity. The first objective is to increase conceptual knowledge related to FTC CE principles in baccalaureate education and address the skills gap related to regenerative agriculture, emerging technologies, and innovations advancing circularity. The second objective is to support FTC educators' ability to deliver professional competencies related to CE.This proposal addresses HEC Educational Need areas 1a. Curriculum Development, Instructional Delivery Systems and Expanding Student Career Opportunities 1b. Faculty Preparation and Enhancement of Teaching. To achieve this goal, it is imperative to create new CE courses and modules that can be used to update exsting FTC curriculum and support educators to pilot test these in their courses. The project team will develop 2 new courses and 8-10 modules focused on CE to update existing FTC curriculum. The curriculum enhancement will be led by project directors from academia and indsutry partner in collaboration with subject matter experts, and informed by interdisciplinary scholars and industry advisory members. FTC faculty from diverse universities will also participate in CE professional development program to prepare them for pilot testing of course materials developed.Products and outcomes ofthe projectwill ensure better workforce preparedness in CE related concepts and knwoledge. The innovative aspects of this project include the project team working closely with the FTC industry advisors to ensure "job-ready" knowledge for students entering the profession.The multi-institutional approach provides a unique and strong model for program development. Two land-grant R1 universities, Colorado State University (CSU) and Kansas State University (KSU) are partnering with Fibershed - a non-profit organization developing and scaling up regenerative textile systems based on carbon farming and regional manufacturing. Such collaborations build an innovative educational ecosystem that improves agricultural sciences capabilities of students and promotes development of regional fiber systems that contributes to local economic development.
Animal Health Component
60%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
35%
Applied
60%
Developmental
5%
Goals / Objectives
This Collaborative Grant 2 (CG2) proposal addresses HEC Educational Need area 1a. Curriculum Development, Instructional Delivery Systems and Expanding Student Career Opportunities (primary focus) and 1b. Faculty Preparation and Enhancement of Teaching (secondary focus). The project aims to develop a multi-institutional, interdisciplinary, and industry informed FTC curriculum incorporating CE competencies. The project has two main objectives with corresponding tasks.Objective 1: To increase conceptual knowledge related to FTC CE principles in baccalaureate education, and address the skills gap related to regenerative agriculture, emerging technologies, and innovations advancing circularity.Task 1.1: Develop 8-12 high impact educational modules focused on advancing FTC CEcompetencies to be integrated into existing courses.Task 1.2: Develop two new foundational courses - 1)Circular Economy in Fiber, Textiles and Clothing 2) Material and Technology Innovations for CircularityObjective 2: To support FTC educators' ability to deliver professional competencies related to CE.Task 2.1: Design and execute a 2-day professional development program for select FTC educators, establishing a baseline understanding of CE principles and preparing them to pilot test the developed modules within their current courses.Task 2.2: Disseminate the developed modules and courses through institutional repositories (e.g., Mountain Scholar, New Prairie Press) and other open access platforms to ensure the developed FTC CE modules and courses are accessible for other educators to use.
Project Methods
Plan of Operation and Methodology.To accomplish first objective the following activities will be undertaken:The project team will create a template for utilization as modules are developed. A range of individuals (project directors, collaborators, and industry advisory members) will be involved in the development of the modules. Therefore, there is a need for a standardized structure - which will occur through the module template. Each module will include a lesson plan, learning outcomes, lecture PowerPoints with notes, industry interviews, curated readings and peer-reviewed journal articles, problem-based activities, and case studies. These components will be outlined in the module template, along with development instructions and expectations. Drs. Hiller and Morris will lead this activity.With input from industry advisory members and interdisciplinary experts the project team will develop key CE competencies and topics for module content. Drs. Diddi and LeHew will lead this activity.Project directors and collaborators will develop modules and courses on the identified CE topics.Dr. Diddi will lead this activity in collaboration with all project directors.The materials developed will be grounded in interdisciplinary perspectives, improving the quality of FTC baccalaureate education. Different components of this CG2 proposal (e.g., industry-informed modules and courses, and an immersive educator professional development workshop) will serve as an exemplary education model for other FANH disciplines. The multi-institutional approach provides a unique and strong model for program development.To accomplish the second objective following activities will be undertaken:In Year 1, a 2-day immersive professional development program for 15 FTC faculty will be held at Fibershed. Project directors will recruit FTC educators with an established record of sustainability research through professional networks - educators teaching different courses (e.g., design, product development, textiles) who are the primary participant pool. To ensure diverse and inclusive perspectives, faculty from MSIs will be invited to participate.Project directors, collaborators and faculty who have attended Fibershed immersive professional development will be invited to pilot test the materials in Years 2 and 3. Based on the feedback received after pilot testing, the project team will revise the course content/structure. Drs. Diddi and LeHew will lead this effort.To ensure that modules and course materials are accessible to all, the project team will make all project outcomes available through institutional open access repositories and other open access avenues (e.g. Open Education Resources). Drs. Morris and Hiller will lead this effort.The project team will share the project outputs at international conferences and publish manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals.Evaluation Plans. Rockman et al Cooperative (REA), an independent research and evaluation firm willserve as the independent external evaluator, developing and implementing all aspects of the project's evaluation.Evaluators will specifically study:The quality and impact of the educator professional development activities.The quality and perceived utility of FTC CE modules for FTC instructors; andThe quality and impact of FTC CE modules for FTC undergraduate students.Formative Evaluation. Formative evaluation will occur in Years 1 and 2 to provide feedback to project team on materials/pathways to increase conceptual knowledge related to FTC CE in baccalaureate education (Objective 1) and the support of FTC educators' ability to deliver professional competencies related to CE (Objective 2).In Year 1, there will be a formative instructor post-professional development survey (n=~15 participants). This survey will ask educators about their feedback on suggested module/course topics, feedback on suggested module/course format, and the challenges they anticipate in teaching CE to baccalaureate students. This formative portion of the survey will help inform the module/course development. Additionally, there will be an instructor focus group (n=~5-7 participants) that elucidates instructors' impressions of professional development impact, their feedback on potential CE module/course topics, and their feedback on potential CE module/course format and processes. In this way, the project can build upon important instructor learning and input for baccalaureate CE resources.In Year 2, the formative feedback will shift more to the baccalaureate student lens. Once initial FTC CE modules/courses are developed they will be piloted in university settings. After the first implementation, 2-3 student focus groups (n=14-21 students total) will be convened to give formative feedback on the pilot FTC CE materials. The focus here will be more on the processes of learning CE through the modules and how they might be refined. Questions will garner formative, improvement-oriented feedback such as what type of resources might be added to aid comprehension of the CE content (e.g., a virtual site visit, low stakes quiz), the process of engaging with the CE materials, and other suggested improvements. Student focus groups will take place in Year 2 so that necessary changes and adjustments can be made.Formative reporting will be iterative and provided with a quick turnaround so that feedback from students and instructors can be incorporated into the final design of CE modules/courses.Summative Evaluation. Summative Evaluation will occur in all three years of the project. In Year 1, there will be a summative instructor post-professional development survey (n=~15 participants). It will include retrospective pre/post items regarding conceptual knowledge of FTC CE (Objective 1) as well as their perceived abilities to deliver professional competencies related to CE and willingness to integrate CE principles into courses (e.g., scales from Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001; Objective 2). The survey will measure instructors' self-reported changes in the previously named domains due to the professional development sessions. Questions will probe their self-efficacy supporting university students with FTC CE. Following Bandura's (2006) guidelines for creating self-efficacy measures, evaluators will generate items that address the specific content covered in professional development (e.g., Blomquist et al., 2016).In Year 2, the primary summative assessment will be piloted and refined with baccalaureate students then implemented in subsequent semesters. For each module and course, students will take a pre- and post-assessment survey for perceived self-efficacy gains in CE in both skills and attitude (drawing upon Hodges et al., 2024). In Year 3, the summative assessment will include the student pre- and post-assessment surveys for each module and course. There will also be an instructor retrospective pre/post instructor summative survey (n=~15) regarding conceptual knowledge of FTC CE (Objective 1) as well as their perceived abilities to deliver professional competencies related to CE and willingness to integrate CE principles into courses (Objective 2) from before and after using the modules across the life of the grant. Reporting for summative evaluation will be provided at the end of each semester of module/course implementation and in summative annual memos and reports. It will include outcome data for both baccalaureate students and instructors across Objectives 1 and 2. Table 4 illustrates assessment and evaluation activities throughout the project period.