General Studies Courses
General Studies courses may be an option for students interested in taking one or two credit-based courses but who are not currently interested in seeking a credential. Students who successfully complete General Studies courses may be eligible to transfer credit toward a certificate, diploma or degree upon formal admission to a program.
Permission to register in General Studies courses requires approval by the Dean or designate. Supporting documentation and/or prerequisites may be required.
For information about non-credit courses, visit Continuing Studies.
Upcoming Start Dates
EECO503: Foundations for Environmental Communication
Course Description: Explores the intersection of communication and the environment in various mediated and unmediated forms. Introduces a range of significant interpersonal, group/organizational and mass communication theories to environmental communication. Examines those theories from the context of their practical contributions to environmental communications and our understanding of how we form notions about the environment. Highlights the essential role communication has played in getting us to our current environmental situation and the role communication might play in helping us to change course. Credits: 3.00
| Start Date | End Date | Tuition (Domestic) | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 10, 2021 | July 18, 2021 | TBD | Online |
| July 12, 2021 | August 22, 2021 | TBD | Blended |
| September 13, 2021 | November 21, 2021 | TBD | Online |
| July 11, 2022 | August 21, 2022 | TBD | Blended |
| September 12, 2022 | November 20, 2022 | TBD | Online |
EECO508: Learning Theory and Program Design
Course Description: Cultivates increasingly sophisticated understanding of learning processes. The search for meaning through the active elaboration of our meaning system - one possible definition of learning - seems to be at the core of being human. As a result of this course, educators will be better able to design effective programs and products. Instructional design will be seen as an intentional process to create learning environments that support effective and efficient learning and instruction appropriate to particular bodies of skill and content and in specific contexts. With support and critique from classmates, students will design or re-design an instructional module they use or plan to use in their environmental education work. Credits: 3.00
| Start Date | End Date | Tuition (Domestic) | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 30, 2021 | November 7, 2021 | 2361.00 | Online |
| August 29, 2022 | November 6, 2022 | TBD | Online |
EECO510: Worldviews, Ethics, and the Environment
Course Description: Examines the range of philosophical and ethical stances at work today as expressed in contemporary environmental education and communications. Investigates environmental ethics as they are tested against real-world environmental problems. Credits: 3.00
| Start Date | End Date | Tuition (Domestic) | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 26, 2021 | July 4, 2021 | 2361.00 | Online |
| April 25, 2022 | July 3, 2022 | TBD | Online |
ENVP500: Developing a Sustainability Perspective
Course Description: Explores the applicability of environmental sustainability concepts and principles in developing a sustainable society. Highlights the tensions that exist between our various value systems and how underlying root metaphors influence attitudes towards the environment. Investigates how environmental sustainability concepts and principles inform the development of a sustainable society from the perspectives of community, business, governance, and leadership as well as how they influence the measurement of performance and outcomes will establish the overall philosophical orientation of the program, and helps each student better define for him or herself what sustainable development means, and why it is such an important concept today. Credits: 3.00
| Start Date | End Date | Tuition (Domestic) | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 13, 2021 | November 28, 2021 | TBD | Online |
| January 10, 2022 | March 27, 2022 | TBD | Online |
| September 12, 2022 | November 27, 2022 | TBD | Online |
| January 9, 2023 | March 26, 2023 | TBD | Online |
ENVR514: Global Environmental Processes and Current Issues
Course Description: Introduces the latest scientific research of our changing natural earth "system" to create the basis for thinking about and understanding the complex issues created by global climate change and global biodiversity. Addresses challenges with respect to biodiversity, climate change, adaptations and governance from both international and Canadian perspectives. Provides an opportunity to learn and practice debating and scientific conference presentation skills. Credits: 3.00
| Start Date | End Date | Tuition (Domestic) | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 21, 2021 | August 29, 2021 | 2293.83 | Online |
| June 20, 2022 | August 28, 2022 | TBD | Online |
ENVR530: Economics for Decision Making
Course Description: Introduces theories, concepts and facts about competing economic paradigms, and develops skills needed to integrate economic and environmental decisions. Examines selected economic instruments from member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and reviews leading practices in the application of these instruments, considering their effectiveness, efficiency, and public acceptability. Credits: 3.00
| Start Date | End Date | Tuition (Domestic) | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 29, 2021 | June 6, 2021 | 2533.70 | Online |
| March 28, 2022 | June 5, 2022 | TBD | Online |
ENVR545: Sustainable Development: From Theory to Practice
Course Description: Takes students beyond theory to the difficulty of the practice of sustainable development. Introduces the topic historically, and addresses the current debates over the meaning of sustainable development. Explains the longstanding discussions concerning economic growth and common resource allocation and introduces the difficult task of measuring human impacts. Applies theoretical concerns to the issue of climate change in Canada. Gives students the opportunity to reflect on their own lives, and on the practices of sustainable development in their own communities. Credits: 3.00
| Start Date | End Date | Tuition (Domestic) | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 10, 2022 | March 20, 2022 | TBD | Online |
| January 9, 2023 | March 19, 2023 | TBD | Online |
ENVR560: Environmental Accounting and Reporting
Course Description: Examines environmental accounting and reporting methods to improve business decisions and performance, including: identifying internal environmental costs (both direct and indirect), identifying external environmental costs (especially those costs which the firm may be accountable for in the future), applying activity based costing (total cost assessment, life cycle assessment, and full cost accounting to business operations), developing environmental performance measures and indicators, and reporting on environmental performance. Credits: 3.00
| Start Date | End Date | Tuition (Domestic) | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 21, 2021 | August 29, 2021 | 2533.70 | Online |
| June 20, 2022 | August 28, 2022 | TBD | Online |
ENVR571: Legal Aspects of Environmental Management
Course Description: Provides an overview of current environmental law and policy, including the role of the common law, legislation, regulation and policy and how it evolves over time. Explains how the constitutional division of powers is relevant to environmental management in Canada and examines the role of federal, provincial and local governments, and First Nations in regulating environmental protection. Examines the development and implementation of international environmental legal instruments and explores the use of environmental assessment as a tool to prevent unwanted impacts. Credits: 3.00
| Start Date | End Date | Tuition (Domestic) | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 10, 2022 | March 20, 2022 | TBD | Online |
| January 9, 2023 | March 19, 2023 | TBD | Online |
ENVR626: Leadership and Sustainable Development
Course Description: Synthesizes the cumulative learning throughout the program of study by enabling the capacity of learners. Develops personal leadership and action plans on the major challenges discussed in the previous residencies and online course work; to see and act sustainably and ethically in a complex multicultural world. Credits: 3.00
| Start Date | End Date | Tuition (Domestic) | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 7, 2021 | November 7, 2021 | TBD | Blended |
| September 13, 2021 | November 21, 2021 | TBD | Online |
| September 6, 2022 | November 6, 2022 | TBD | Blended |
| September 12, 2022 | November 20, 2022 | TBD | Online |
ENVR660: Environmental Management Tools
Course Description: Provides a critical overview and framework for working with environmental and sustainability management systems and tools. Examines various systems of environmental management and tools such as Environmental Impact Assessment and related processes, Environmental Performance Evaluation, and Sustainability Assessment and Risk Assessment. Emphasis will be on the “how-to,” and students are expected to familiarize themselves with the appropriate techniques and methods. Credits: 3.00
| Start Date | End Date | Tuition (Domestic) | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| June 21, 2021 | August 29, 2021 | 2293.83 | Online |
| June 20, 2022 | August 28, 2022 | TBD | Online |
GBLD520: Navigating Geo-Political Dynamics of Global Communities
Course Description: Develops understanding of global communities in their relationships to wider social, cultural, historical, political and economic settings, factors, and ideas. Students connect theories and practices in global community development to the shifting social, political, and economic environments that shape people’s lives in the global North and South. Participants explore the centrality of the concept of globalization and the integration of local and global forces. They develop and apply global literacy in a number of domains: political, economic, cultural, moral, organizational, and spiritual/religious. Pre-requisites: GBLD501 and GBLD505. Credits: 3.00
| Start Date | End Date | Tuition (Domestic) | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 15, 2021 | May 23, 2021 | 2441.75 | Online |
| March 14, 2022 | May 22, 2022 | TBD | Online |
| March 14, 2022 | May 22, 2022 | TBD | On Campus |
PJMN501: Managing Complex Projects
Course Description: Project managers use specific proven techniques and strategies for achieving outstanding results. Several models have evolved to provide contextual frameworks for integrating projects within an organization’s strategic goals. This course includes and examines the benefits realization approach and the SMART (strategically managed, aligned, regenerative and transitional) model. Credits: 3.00
| Start Date | End Date | Tuition (Domestic) | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 22, 2021 | May 23, 2021 | 2320.33 | Online |
| October 4, 2021 | December 5, 2021 | TBD | Online |
| October 18, 2021 | December 19, 2021 | TBD | Online |
| October 11, 2022 | December 11, 2022 | TBD | Online |
SPCC614: Science and Impacts of Climate Change
Course Description: This course is a foundational introductory, interdisciplinary course about the nature, causes, and impacts of climate change. Resources will include the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Canadian and BC government reports as well as significant current journal articles and publications. Impacts covered will include warming, sea level rise, melting of permafrost, and altered distribution and migration patterns as well as impacts on livelihoods and cultures. It will combine perspectives from geology, biology, sociology, and modelling. Credits: 3.00
| Start Date | End Date | Tuition (Domestic) | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 18, 2021 | March 28, 2021 | 2320.34 | Online |
| June 21, 2021 | August 29, 2021 | TBD | Online |
| January 17, 2022 | March 27, 2022 | TBD | Online |
SPCC615: Climate Policy and Governance
Course Description: This course reviews and evaluates existing policy instruments and governance institutions designed to address climate change (both adaptation and mitigation) now and in the future: e.g. COP process including COP 21- the Paris Agreement, UNFCCC, local, regional and national policies in Canada and elsewhere. It will include human dimensions of such policies and governance such as gender, equity, indigenous rights, communication and others. Credits: 3.00
| Start Date | End Date | Tuition (Domestic) | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 5, 2021 | June 13, 2021 | TBD | Online |
| April 4, 2022 | June 12, 2022 | TBD | Online |