Living Lab Resources for Faculty & Staff

LIVING LAB RESOURCES FOR FSU FACULTY/STAFF

What is an ideal Living Lab course?

Living Lab courses can take many forms, and all sizes of classes and levels of student education can be accommodated within the program.

The most successful Living Lab courses share the following characteristics:

  • The course provides students with the opportunity to focus on an environmental, economic, and/or social sustainability challenge.
  • The course includes project-based learning and/or group work.
  • Students are prepared to research and network outside of the classroom setting.

What are my responsibilities as a Living Lab instructor? 

Faculty or staff members teaching a Living Lab course should be open to working with campus and community partners to create experiential learning opportunities for students.

The Living Lab program requires instructors to:

  1. Work with a campus or community partner to identify related project proposals
  2. Sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the partner (using the Living Lab MoU template)
  3. Design appropriate learning objectives and modifying syllabus requirements to incorporate experiential learning
  4. Reserve at least two in-class sessions for a beginning-of-semester project introduction and end-of-semester student presentations (as agreed upon in the MoU)
  5. Guide and mentor student project implementation

Is there funding available to support Living Lab courses?

The Green Fund offers Living Lab Grants to faculty members in support of the Campus as a Living Laboratory (Living Lab) initiative. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis, and the limit of the grant request is $500 or less.

Funds can be used to support:

  • On-campus infrastructure development
  • Research
  • Site visits
  • Other related experiences that take place at FSU or in the Tallahassee area

Submit a Living Lab Grant application »

How can my class get involved with the Living Lab program? 

All campus faculty and/or staff members teaching a course at any academic level are invited to participate in the program by requesting a Living Lab consultation.

Request a Living Lab consultation »