2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

As the primary commissioning source for civil engineers for the U.S. Coast Guard, it is imperative that our graduates understand the projected impacts of climate change – sea level rise, altered hurricane patterns, and other associated hazards – on coastal infrastructure. At the United States Coast Guard Academy (CGA), the civil and environmental engineering faculty recognized the need to educate the future of our Service and have developed a Coastal Resiliency Course that incorporates climate science into engineering practice. Coastal Resiliency provides students an exposure to best practices in civil engineering, climate science, community planning and policy. At CGA, no one faculty member has expertise in these collective arenas however, as a team, the combined knowledge of three faculty members, and several guest lecturers, has been leveraged to annually teach a course that educates future Coast Guard Officers and civil engineers about the challenges ahead for coastal communities. What began as a team-taught course has morphed into a successful example of an egalitarian classroom where daily student participation, student lead discussions and a term project have created a classroom environment where students lead their scholastic experience. By pushing the ownership to the students - 40% of their classroom grade is based on participation - the classroom conversations have deepened, and more diverse perspectives have emerged. Students have self-reported that the benefit of these experiences will help them to better lead and serve in an increasingly complex 21st century. This paper shares the teaching approach and pedagogical tools used to promote student learning and engagement, including a history of assessment-driven changes made to the course since its inception in 2017.