Course:LFS450

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LFS 450 - W2015 Term 2
Land, Food, & Community III
Istanbul Vegetable Market.jpg
Course Info
Instructor: Liska Richer
Class schedule: Term 2
Wed, 2:00 - 5:00pm
Classroom: MCML 160
Breakout Rooms: MCML 256 and 260
Office hours: By Appointment



Course Instructor
Liska Richer - Liska.richer@ubc.ca
Office: MCML 221

Teaching Assistant (TA) Corine Singfield - scorine@mail.ubc.ca

UBC Food System Project
Campus Sustainability | Campus + Community Planning
Webpage: http://sustain.ubc.ca/campus-initiatives/food/ubc-food-system-project
UBC SEEDS Sustainability Program
Campus Sustainability | Campus + Community Planning
Centre for Interactive Sustainability (CIRS) Building (3rd floor)
Webpage: http://sustain.ubc.ca/courses-teaching/seeds
Additional Resource Persons:

  • David Gill, Program & Policy Planner, SEEDS Sustainability Program, Campus + Community Planning
  • Melissa Baker, Manager, Nutrition & Wellbeing, Student Housing & Hospitality Services (SHHS)
  • David Speight, Executive Chef & Culinary Director, Student Housing & Hospitality Services (SHHS)
  • Veronik Campbell, Academic Programs Manager, UBC Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm
  • Morgan Reid and Duncan McHugh, LFS Learning Centre

LFS 450/LFC III or Leadership in Food System Sustainability

Course Rationale

Land, food and community are central components of all human societies. In an era of rapidly increasing human populations, accelerating climate change, urbanization, and globalization, studying the interactions between land, food and community within our society can offer insights into the complexity of food systems and suggest strategies aimed at improving their sustainability. LFC III allows students to apply the skills acquired in previous LFC courses and in their degree specializations, to address real world problems in a 'safe to fail' environment right here on the UBC-V campus.

Course Description

LFS 450 (Land, Food, and Community III) uses an experiential learning, team-based approach to learn about food system sustainability challenges as realized on the UBC-V campus. It offers students the opportunity to apply skills and concepts derived from other coursework and your area of specialization to address contemporary problems in an integrative, interdisciplinary setting. The central theme of this course is the envisioning, planning, implementation and management of projects aimed at improving the campus food system in terms of its ecological, economic and social sustainability. In addition, dissemination of information related to these projects is viewed as critical for their success. With this theme in mind, all course assignments are intended to strengthen oral and written communication skills and project management.

In the main assignment, the UBC Food System Project (UBCFSP), students engage with the UBC food system by acting as professional consultants to campus stakeholders. Working with them, students identify and implement solutions for their problems. This project also employs Community Based Action Research (CBAR) as its primary pedagogy. CBAR enables communities and individuals to collaborate and explore solutions to challenges faced by the community.

Other activities in the course will focus on developing leadership, professional, critical assessment and communication skills intended to support your post-graduation life.

Course Philosophy

LFS 450, like all the courses in the LFC series, is a course based on a “community-of- learners” approach with important elements of Problem-Based Learning (the use of real world problems in the discovery and application of knowledge) and Community Based Experiential Learning (CBEL). One of the primary underlying assumptions in the “community-of-learners” approach is that the diversity within our classroom is the most precious learning resource available to instructors and students. CBEL allows students to get outside the traditional classroom setting and apply discipline-specific knowledge toward the resolution of complex community-based challenges.

In this class, there are people with very diverse professional and cultural backgrounds: students coming from a plurality of ethno-cultural origins, belonging to the various academic degree programs both in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems (Applied Biology, GRS, and FNH, Food Sciences and 12 concentrations within each of these broad programs) and beyond the Faculty (Arts and Science). A key assumption in this course is that diversity is the greatest learning resource and that the dynamics of difference – under conditions of safety and respect – open up new and richer vistas to any subject matter.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of LFS 450: LFC III, students will be able to:

  • initiate activities to create or effect positive change to the sustainability of the campus food system
  • synthesize ideas and perspectives from multiple disciplines and knowledge domains (ways of knowing) to achieve appropriate and effective project outcomes
  • interact with professionalism in a wide variety of contexts
  • critically evaluate food system literature and sustainability initiatives
  • acquire excellent writing and oral presentation skills
  • develop and apply strong project management skills
  • develop and apply strong leadership skills.

W2016 Course Schedule

The course schedule is subject to changes throughout the term

See Course:LFS450/Schedule

Course Readings

Required Readings

Books(br/>

  • Komives, S., Wagner, W., & Assoc. (2008). Leadership for a better world: Understanding the social change model of leadership development. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Chapter 1 (pp. 3-141)

Articles

  • Stewart, T., & Alrutz, M. (2012). Meaningful relationships: Cruxes of university-community partnerships for sustainable and happy engagement. JCES, 5(1).
  • Rojas, A., Richer, L., and Wagner, J. (March 2007). The University of British Columbia Food System Project: Towards Sustainable and Secure Food Systems Ecohealth, 4(1), 86-94.
  • Shutzbank, M. So you're going to be a Consultant? Managing concepts and boundaries
  • Burns, D. (2014). Systemic action research: Changing system dynamics to support sustainable change. Action Research, 12(1), 3-18.

Webpages

Recommended Readings

Books

  • Halwell, B., & Nierenberg, D. (2007). Chapter 3: Farming the cities (pp 48-65). In State of the World, 2007: Our Urban Future; A Worldwatch Institute Report on Progress Toward a Sustainable Society. New York: Norton & Company

Videos

Articles

  • Strand, K., Marullo, S., Cutforth, N., Stoecker, R., & Donohue, P. (2003). Principles of best practice for Community-Based Research. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 9(3).
  • Morton, M. (2013). Practicing principles of community engaged scholarship in a fourth-year seminar. Teaching and Learning Innovations Journal, 16, 1-20.
  • Rojas, A. (2008). "Towards integration of knowledge through sustainability education and its potential contribution to environmental security." (In press) in Susan Allen, (ed.) Addressing Global Environmental Security Through Innovative Educational Curricula. Springer Verlag.
  • Cortese, A.D., and McDonough, W. "Education for Sustainability: Accelerating the Transition to Sustainability Through Higher Education". Environmental Grantmakers Association News & Updates. Spring 2001. pp 11-14.
  • Flavin, C. (2008). State of the World, 2008. Worldwatch Institute, Washington.
  • Dauvergne, P. (2008). The shadows of consumption: Consequences for the global environment. Cambridge: The MIT Press. Section IV (pp. 133-165)k

Webpages

Course Policies

Late Policy

Assignments will be penalized 10% per day if they are late (including weekends). Assignments will not be accepted after one week from the due date. Exceptions to this policy will only be considered in advance of the due date and in exceptional circumstances (i.e., medical reasons, death in the family, etc.).

Grade Profile

Assignment Percentage of Grade
Leadership Reflections 5x (Individual) 10 %
Critical Review Paper (Individual) 30 %
UBCFSP Project Outline (Group) 10 %
UBC Food System Presentation (Group) 20 %
UBC Food System Report (Group) 30 %

Total Group work (60%) x Peer evaluation multiplier (0-1.1)

Group Work Grading Policy

While group work can be rewarding it can also be unequally shared and a source of resentment. Your TA will monitor your group and personal evaluations to be able to assist groups that are experiencing conflict. Working well in groups is a skill that can be developed over time and these evaluations will help you and your group function efficiently in a collaborative, interdisciplinary setting. At the midpoint and end of the course, each group member will give a score for each member of his or her working team as well as themselves. Scores can range from 0 to 1.1 and are given according to the member’s contribution to the group work. A group that worked perfectly together will receive unanimous scores of 1.0 for every member, indicating that work was shared equally within the team. Members who did extra work could receive up to 1.1, members who did less should receive less than1.0, in proportion to the amount of work they contributed. Teaching assistants and the instructor will use these scores to determine a final multiplier for each person. Marks based on group work will be multiplied by this number. Your assessment of your team members will remain confidential but it is a course requirement.

Grade Component Descriptions

Listed here is a brief description of each component of the final course mark. For full descriptions of the assignments and their marking rubrics, please see the assignment documents posted on Connect.

Leadership Reflections (10%)

Various deadlines

Critical Review Paper (30%)

Due Feb 23
As a graduate of the FLFS, you may be asked to provide an informed opinion on contemporary food system issues. Vegetarian diets are widely promoted as both an ecologically friendly and an individually healthy way to eat. Lierre Keith presents three arguments for why she does not agree. She presents logical arguments based on her experience and knowledge. She is not a scientist or an academic. However, there are many ‘ways of knowing’ that lie outside of the scientific method. It is up to you to decide if her logic and conclusions are reasonable and to support your opinion with academic level evidence. This assignment will provide you with an opportunity to critically assess the logic and conclusions put forth in Lierre Keith’s book, Vegetarian Myth, and to identify/assess/examine your own opinion about the very popular, and often polarizing, subject of vegetarianism.

For this assignment, each student will critique Lierre Keith’s book, Vegetarian Myth. The critique can argue for or against one or more of the three arguments made in this book. You can choose to focus on one or more of the three augments put forward and are required to use academic sources (such as peer-reviewed journal articles) to support your argument. You will be assessed on how well you logically develop your position and the quality of the academic argument that you present. You will be graded on quality and depth of your position, not quantity of points critiqued.

Please refer to the assignment guidelines posted on Connect for the full description.

UBC Food System Project (60%)

An introduction to the UBC Food System Project (UBCFSP) will be presented in class and a brief introduction to the UBCFSP can be found in the course syllabus. Further information about the project can be found on the UBCFSP Webpage http://www.sustain.ubc.ca/campus-initiatives/food/ubc-food-system-project

UBCFSP Project Audience

This project has two audiences. The first, and most important, is the community partners for whom the action-research is being conducted. The second is the course instructor and teaching team who will evaluate your work from an academic perspective.

Assignment Components

This assignment has three main components:

  1. UBCFSP Project Outline (10%) Due March 2
  2. UBCFSP Group Presentation (20%) In class, April 6
  3. UBFSP Group Report (Academic Paper) (30%) Due April 8

Please refer to the assignment guidelines posted on Connect for the full description.

UBCFSP Outline

Your group will be responsible for providing a brief (2 page max) outline of your UBCFSP paper. A template can be accessed through Connect. This outline is an opportunity for your group to gain feedback on your project and to assure that you are on-track. Use this opportunity to improve your project.

  • Outline should be representative of the final report you envision.
  • Explain project methodology and justification for chosen methods in detail such that the reader knows exactly how the project was implemented.
  • Explain project evaluation plan in detail.
  • If applicable, pose questions to the Teaching Team to gain feedback for specific parts of your project.

Please refer to the assignment guidelines posted on Connect for the full description.

UBCFSP Group Paper and Presentation

The final report is the formal way for you to explain and share your action-research projects to the world. Therefore, the papers must be written for a general audience. You will want to situate the project in the global, national and local context as well as fully explain your methods in a way that allows for replication elsewhere. Your citations and references are your readers guide to the supporting literature. Be sure that these are of high academic quality and are consistent in your final paper. You have 30 double spaced pages, excluding references.

The papers will be summarized and shared with project stakeholders and will be posed for public viewing on the SEEDS library website. Therefore, the papers are expected to be of professional quality. All documents, summary reports, template, etc. that were generated for the community partner should be supplied as Appendices in the final report (academic paper) as appropriate.

The final presentation is an opportunity for your group to show off your work and share your finding with the class and attending project partners/stakeholders. This will be a professional quality presentation. You will have 15 minutes with an additional 5 minutes for questions and answers.

Additional information: if you choose to conduct a survey, it needs to be reviewed, approved, well documented and thoughtful; TA should guide and provide input into all draft documents (use them, they are your resource).

Please refer to the assignment guidelines posted on Connect for the full description.

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