Work in Progress: Student Reflections from a Semester-Long Place-Based Photovoltaic Solar Energy Project

Abstract

In spring of 2022, the University of San Diego integrated engineering department offered a new sociotechnical solar energy course for junior and senior students. The course differed from traditional, technical upper-division engineering electives by facilitating student learning through a semester-long, team-based solar energy project that students worked on while concurrently gaining technical insights through lectures and problem sets. Informed by place-based pedagogies and culturally sustaining pedagogies, we designed the course to be relevant to the students' lived experiences by coupling the learning about technical elements of solar energy with a focus on solar energy projects on campus. Prior to running the course, we studied the university's Energy Master Plan, learned about the current state of solar energy on campus, and identified four potential new solar projects. We divided the 14 students in the class into four teams, with each team conducting a feasibility assessment for their solar project over the course of the class. Students started by exploring the solar we already have on campus. Once familiarized with the current system, we guided the students in completing their assessments of the new projects through four, two-week phases, with each phase focusing on a different sociotechnical analysis for their project: 1) social, 2) technical, 3) economic, and 4) environmental. During the fifth and final phase, 'integration,' we supported the students in integrating their analyses from each phase and making final, all-class recommendations to the university about how to proceed with solar energy investments on campus. In this paper, we share our findings from implementing this sociotechnical learning approach gained from student reflections, and our own observations and reflections from the course experience.