An Experiential Sustainability Project Designed for an Operations Management Class

A priority at our small liberal arts college is to engage students through experiential learning projects. Experiential Learning was the Quality Enhancement Project (QEP) established as part of “Roanoke Pathways: From... [ view full abstract ]

A priority at our small liberal arts college is to engage students through experiential learning projects. Experiential Learning was the Quality Enhancement Project (QEP) established as part of “Roanoke Pathways: From experience to experiential learning” where “Roanoke College's Pathways Program seeks to improve student learning by enhancing the quality and visibility of experiential learning opportunities currently available to our students: research, internships, service-learning, study away, and creative/artistic works.” This program was agreed upon when we last went through our SACS accreditation and as a result so many of us actively pursue opportunities while still recognizing the many constraints all projects face in their execution.
The purpose of this presentation is to describe an experience based, on campus project developed and used in an undergraduate operations management class that addresses the tenets of the QEP.
As proponents of sustainability, the authors seek out opportunities to help students understand that being environmentally and socially responsible can be the most profitable course of action for long term business success - People, planet, profit. Since our college promotes experiential learning we seek projects that can be taught experientially. Another recent college initiative is to reduce energy expenses; toward that end the college hired a consulting company which has an Energy Specialist on campus. His job entails identifying energy saving opportunities and working with the college’s personnel to execute implementation strategies.
This project developed for our operations management class was seen as a win/win/win for the authors. It gives our students an experiential learning opportunity, it shows them that not all cost cutting measures are equal, it provides suggestions which if acted upon could reduce the college’s carbon footprint, and it provides the opportunity to save the college money which in these challenging times is yet another major college initiative.
In consultation with our energy specialist, we developed five different projects:
• Evaluating the energy use in our College of Business (COB) building.
• Another project focuses on energy use of the inhabitants of the same building.
• Vending machines.
• Washing machines and dryers.
• Campus Vehicles.

The projects were designed to encompass different operations techniques, including forecasting, payback, inventory control, facility layout and design, quality assurance and the human resource implications of any changes. This project took place over the Fall of 2015. In February we will present the projects in more detail including the results of the projects, the lessons learned, and suggestions for future projects.