Teaching sustainability in civil engineering using Ceequal

Civil engineering students need to learn how to deliver practical sustainable solutions for engineering projects. At Heriot-Watt University a version of the Ceequal assessment and awards tool has been modified to allow students to engage with a case study in a structured, systematic way. Students determine an initial project score that is well demonstrated by the evidence provided and a potential project score that could be obtained with further information or improvements. All assumptions and evidence must be justified. Graphs show the progress of the assessment and the range of potential project awards. The case studies provided are short project summaries so the outcome is limited by a lack of information. However, it gives the students an understanding of how an assessment progresses. The effectiveness has been evaluated for a case study on the first phase of the A470 trunk road improvement scheme in North Wales (a 7·2 km stretch between Dolwyddelan and Pont Yr Afanc). Feedback from students on this coursework has been extremely positive. They like the practical method as it is close to what ‘real’ employment might be like. Overall the case study work certainly appears to fulfil the main learning objective of giving students an understanding of a breadth of practical solutions in sustainability. The paper demonstrates that applied assessment and award techniques can be usefully used as teaching tools.