Sustainable resource management is an important part of the environmental engineering degree program at ETH Zurich. In the lectures Waste Technology, Waste Recycling Technologies and Waste Management and Circular Economy, Bachelor's and Master's students are taught the necessary knowledge and skills. Between September 2019 and February 2025, Dr. Melanie Haupt and Dr. Maja Wiprächtiger took over the management of all three lectures. This provides a unique opportunity to coordinate these lectures in terms of both content and personal skills development.
Interactive teaching
As part of the Innovedum-funded project, the content and learning objectives of the three lectures mentioned are to be coordinated in such a way that students can develop skills effectively and practically. Innovedum is the vehicle for promoting teaching development projects at ETH. In collaboration with various specialists at ETH Zurich, efforts are also being made to pass on the content and experience gained to other departments and professorships.
Practical evaluation
In the same step, the three lectures will be redesigned in line with the PAKETH reform. The main adjustment to the PAKETH reform concerns the session examinations. Normally, the subjects were examined in the session (February or August) by means of oral or written examinations. The reform is intended to increase the use of graded semester examinations or end-of-semester examinations, thus anchoring and prioritizing active learning.
Aims of the project
- The overarching aim is to coordinate the content of all courses in the field of waste management and recycling management. This coordination is aimed at both the development of technical skills with fundamental and in-depth engineering principles and the promotion of personal skills.
- Secondly, the project pursues an active, student-centered approach. To this end, learning materials are being developed that support active learning throughout the semester in all three courses concerned. In addition, materials for the self-directed learning of basic methodological skills will be created.
- The third objective is to develop an overview of integrated assessment techniques that promote active learning and provide students with meaningful feedback on their learning progress.