Global Sustainability and Earth Literacy Studies (GSELS)
Are you passionate about environmental concerns? Would you like to explore your connection to Earth and nature? Do you want to learn how you can make a positive difference in our community and beyond? Then GSELS is for you!
The Global Sustainability and Earth Literacy Studies (GSELS) learning network provides inclusive educational opportunities for the Miami Dade College community to explore global citizenship, ecological sustainability, and civic engagement, through understanding planetary challenges and limits and by developing values, skills, and behaviors that promote prosperity and communities of well-being.
Crafted to foster 21st century engaged global citizens, GSELS provides a process for students to develop the awareness, knowledge, skills and solutions necessary to create a healthy and just economy, society, culture and environment, while fostering values of Earth Literacy, social justice, and cultural diversity.
Each semester, hundreds of GSELS-designated classes across all disciplines are offered collegewide.
There are Two Levels of GSELS Class Designation:
GSELS-Focused
These classes will address all course objectives through the lens of GSELS criteria. They will concentrate on key components of sustainability, including social, economic, and environmental dimensions, or examine an issue or topic using sustainability as a lens.
GSELS-Related
These classes will include at least one module addressing GSELS criteria. They might incorporate GSELS principles as a distinct course component or module, or they might concentrate on a single sustainability principle or issue.
After successfully completing at least 12 credits of GSELS-designated classes and a GSELS Civic Engagement Project, students are eligible to receive formal recognition as a GSELS Scholar from MDC. Through GSELS, professors guide students in exploring sustainability and resiliency on local, regional, and global scales through classroom curricula, symposia, guest lectures, service-learning, field trips, project-based learning, and more.
Benefits of Becoming a GSELS Scholar:
- Receive formal recognition as a GSELS Scholar from MDC’s Earth Ethics Institute, upon successful completion
- Strengthen your academic and professional portfolios
- Connect with MDC students, faculty and staff interested in Global Sustainability & Earth Literacy across all disciplines
- Participate in outdoor field trips, symposia, and invigorating lectures and workshops
- Participate in exclusive events and alternative breaks, available to qualified candidates
- Develop future-proof skills, including critical thinking, problem solving, and a systems perspective
- Become a civically-engaged changemaker, empowered to make a positive impact in your community
- Foster changemaking attributes of empathy, reflection, resilience, and action
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
How to Become a GSELS Scholar
- Complete at least 12 credits in GSELS-designated classes, with a minimum of three credits from a GSELS-focused class, and earning a minimum of a "B" in each of your GSELS-designated classes
- Complete a GSELS Civic Engagement Project, for which there are three options:
- A 10-hour Academic Service-Learning project registered through the MDC Changemaker Hub, coordinated with one of your GSELS class instructors and related to this class’ curricula
- Score a minimum of 100 points on iCED’s Civic Action Scorecard, with a minimum of 50 of those points scored from the Environment & Sustainability section
- A sustainability and/or Earth Literacy related project designed by your GSELS professor and approved by Earth Ethics Institute, receiving a grade ‘B’ or higher, that has a civic engagement component, and is presented to the public in some format once completed
- Write a 500-word reflection essay describing how your GSELS Civic Engagement Project connected to what you learned in your GSELS classes
- Contact us to apply for GSELS Scholar recognition (we will need your degree audit, Civic Engagement Project documentation, and reflection essay)
GSELS Civic Engagement Project
An important requisite in earning the GSELS Scholar designation is completing a GSELS Civic Engagement Project.
There are three options from which to choose:
- Coordinated with one of your GSELS class instructors and related to this class’ curricula
- Find events/opportunities in the MDC Changemaker Hub by doing one of the following:
- Search and register for events/opportunities assigned by your GSELS professor
- Choose your own event/opportunity that connects to your GSELS class and register or contact the community partner to arrange your service
- Contact Earth Ethics Institute if you wish to participate in an opportunity not listed in the Changemaker Hub
- After completing your service, click "Add Impact" in the Changemaker Hub to register your participation
- In the "About Your Experience" section, include a 500-word minimum reflection essay detailing your Service-Learning experience and how it connected to your GSELS studies, and attach any pictures/materials documenting your participation
- Submit to Earth Ethics Institute a summary of your registered impacts
- In the Changemaker Hub, click on your Account Icon on the top right-hand corner of the page and click "Impact Summary"
- When applying for GSELS Scholar recognition with Earth Ethics Institute staff, specify which of your impacts are being used for your GSELS 10-hour Academic Service-Learning Project
- For detailed instructions on how to use the MDC Changemaker Hub to find events/opportunities and record impacts, see the "About" section in the Changemaker Hub homepage
- Score a minimum of 100 points on iCED’s Civic Action Scorecard, with at least 50 of those points coming from the Environment & Sustainability section
- Submit to Earth Ethics Institute a 500-word minimum reflection essay detailing your scorecard work and how it connected to your GSELS studies, as well as documentation of your scorecard work
- Complete a sustainability and/or Earth Literacy related project designed by your GSELS professor and approved by Earth Ethics Institute, receiving a grade ‘B’ or higher, that has a civic engagement component, and is presented to the public in some format once completed
- Submit to Earth Ethics Institute a 500-word minimum reflection essay detailing your project and how it connected to your GSELS studies