Course Materials

Model Introductory Infrastructure Course

The model introductory infrastructure course introduces first or second year students from any major to infrastructure, civil and environmental engineering and helps students see infrastructure as the system that it truly is. Consequently, it provides students with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to effectively design, build, manage, and maintain our public works by considering social, economic, environmental, political, and other impacts in addition to the technical considerations; it is thus intended as a broadening experience for all students. The course developers, members of the CIT-E community of practice, recognize that many first or second year students have very little knowledge of infrastructure and have designed the course with this in mind. Complex mathematics is not needed in the course as the focus is to provide students with a holistic view of infrastructure. The course learning outcomes were developed collaboratively by members of the CIT-E community in 2015. A course outline, specifying 43 lessons that will support the outcomes, was also developed by the community of practice. As of summer 2016, four complete lessons have been created and passed the peer review process, and 12 more are "in the pipeline." Eventually, the course will include all 43 lessons, all of which will be team-created and peer reviewed. Each lesson contains all the materials necessary to deliver the lesson: background readings for the instructor; pre-class materials for the student, including original screen casts; complete set of instructor notes including supporting PowerPoints and detailed active learning exercises; homework assignments, and solutions.

Model Course Lesson Summaries
*Lessons that are ready for adoption (i.e. they are completed and peer-reviewed) are labeled in orange*

Fundamentals

One Water

1. What is infrastructure and why do we
care?

In this lesson, students place pictures of varying types of infrastructure on a map of the US to identify the types of infrastructure required to support one person. This instruction is significant because students will start to identify the infrastructure they rely on for daily tasks. This will help them to recognize the interconnections that allow infrastructure to run smoothly.

Full lesson materials

2. Basic infrastructure functions

This lesson exposes students to the breadth, depth, complexity, and interconnectedness of infrastructure throughout the United States using an instructor-led slide presentation built around the Department of Homeland Security’s 16 critical infrastructure sectors. Upon completion, students should recognize the role of infrastructure in delivering services to populations, the social and political importance of infrastructure, and the vast scale of infrastructure systems in the US.

Full lesson materials

3. Infrastructure as a System

Students learn the systems thinking skills which provide a foundation for understanding infrastructure as a network of complex systems for the duration of the course. The instructor facilitates the LA Water Simulation Game to expose the pitfalls of the “don’t fix what isn’t broken” mindset in the context of the United States infrastructure crisis as informed by the ASCE Report Card. Using the Los Angeles county water distribution system as a case study, students play the role of the LA Water Manager to learn to recognize and appreciate the interdependent nature of social, economic, political, and technical infrastructure systems. The students’ newly acquired systems thinking skill will be transferable to other domains of infrastructure beyond water systems.

Full lesson materials

4. Triple Bottom Line

The purpose of this lesson is to expose students to the concept of sustainability within the context of comparing project alternatives. Students will develop criteria used to evaluate project alternatives within the areas of the three P's (3P's) of sustainability: people, planet, and profit. Next, students will use the 3P criteria within two connected tools called the Sustainability Triangle and Sustainability Index which will provide a metric for comparing the sustainability of project alternatives. This lesson includes examples of airport expansion and campus parking to help meet its objectives.
This is an introductory framework to the concept of sustainability within infrastructure, and the Sustainability Triangle and Index are subjective in nature. Other tools such as LEED and Envision could be used as more detailed tools in a follow-up lesson or in a higher level course.

Full lesson materials

5. Social impacts of infrastructure

The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to the concept of social impact and how infrastructure can affect society in many different ways, both anticipated and unanticipated. This lesson provides a brief introduction to the concept of social impact, as it can begin to expand into many different discussions that can be the subject of individual lessons themselves (i.e. environmental justice, socio-economic impacts, etc.).

Full lesson materials

6. Teamwork

The purpose of this lesson is to help students understand how to be effective team members. They will learn the attributes of effective team members and decision-making and conflict resolution strategies for teams.
Full lesson materials

7. Ethics 1

Peer-reviewed materials will be ready by May 2017.

8. Ethics 2

This lesson exposes students to common workplace incidents of ethical misconduct, their causes, perpetrators of misconduct, and the impact of ethical misconduct on the overall culture of an organization. In addition, it outlines strategies employed to address workplace misconduct. The lesson further guides students to apply the ASCE code of ethics to case analyses involving civil engineering projects.
Full lesson materials

9. Traits of effective written and oral communication

Peer-reviewed materials will be ready by May 2017.

10. Financing public works

Peer-reviewed materials will be ready by May 2017.

11. Saftey/licensure

Peer-reviewed materials will be ready by May 2017.

12. INFRASTRUCTURE pLANNING

This lesson aims to promote student understanding of the role of planning in infrastructure development and the effects of that planning on the success of communities. Basic elements like comprehensive planning and zoning are discussed with an emphasis on respecting the contribution of disciplines beyond engineering, like Law, Finance and Politics. The critical difference between design, which can take place on many scales, and infrastructure planning, which entails an understanding of Systems of Systems, is also explored through a student activity.

Full lesson materials

13. Resilience and risk

Peer-reviewed materials will be ready by August 2017.

14. Introduction to enviormental engineering

Peer-reviewed materials will be ready by August 2017.

15. DRINKING WATER SUPPLY AND TREATMENT

Peer-reviewed materials will be ready by August 2017.

16. Wastewater sources and treatment

Peer-reviewed materials will be ready by August 2017.

17. STORM WATER infrastructure and basic calculations

Peer-reviewed materials will be ready by August 2017.

18. Green Infrastructure

This lesson provides an introduction to using “green infrastructure” to manage storm water. As opposed to “gray infrastructure” (think concrete curbs, gutters, impervious areas), green infrastructure uses a more natural approach to managing storm water. Students will be introduced to techniques including infiltration basins, green roofs, and permeable pavers. They will gain the skills needed to use the EPA National Storm water Calculator to design a plan to manage the storm water on a real site in their locale.

Full lesson materials

19. Water Security

Peer-reviewed materials will be ready by August 2017.

20. Water re-use

Peer-reviewed materials will be ready by August 2017.

21. Global water topics

Peer-reviewed materials will be ready by August 2017.

Transportation

Energy

22. Transportation I