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This paper examines the contribution of SEA in six international electricity sector planning case studies. All cases showed some "best practice" evidence such as participation, alternatives consideration and impact assessment; however, considerable variability was found in the types of alternatives considered and the approach to impact assessment and monitoring depending on the timing of SEA application in the PPP process. Regarding substantive contributions, SEA was identified by stakeholders as improving communication during planning and informing lower-level decision making, but fared less well in influencing the nature of the PPP at hand; only two cases clearly incorporated SEA recommendations into the final PPP. Overall, results show considerable potential for SEA to support PPP assessment and decision making in the electricity sector, but also a considerable need for improvements in understanding of the importance of the timing of SEA in the PPP process and how to integrate the results of SEA into PPP development.

At a comprehensive, public university in Western Canada, a fourth-year course in risk and safety management was recently made a requirement for all engineering students; depending on their program, students may take this course in their second, third, fourth, or fifth year of their program. As a result of increasing class sizes, this course was shifted from traditional to blended instruction. Since blending and opening this course to students with varying years of undergraduate engineering experience, instructors noted a difference in students’ maturity (e.g., a change in quantity and quality of in-class discussion, questions, participation, student-teacher interactions, and problem solving capabilities) and questioned whether this impacted their interactions with online material. Research examining the impact of blended learning in Engineering has primarily focused on large first-year undergraduate courses; research about blended learning in upper-year engineering courses is sparse. Studies investigating courses with students of varying years of experience in the program are virtually non-existent. Therefore, to better understand students’ interactions with online material during blended learning as connected to years in their program, we examined the relationship between levels of interaction and performance of students by year in program. This study analyzed approximately 2000 students’ interactions with online material and performance across five sections of a risk-management course in engineering. We found that students who had completed more years of their program interacted less with online material than students earlier in their undergraduate careers. Academic performance, on the other hand, was higher for students who had interacted more with online material and slightly higher for students who had completed more years in their program. These results suggest that the delivery of instructional materials may need to be tailored to students’ year in their program. Further implications and areas of future study are discussed.

A strategic environmental assessment (SEA) framework for electricity sector planning is developed and applied to evaluate electricity supply scenarios for Saskatchewan, Canada. The overall goal of the SEA application was to identify a preferred future electricity production path, demonstrate the application of a quantitative SEA process that operationalizes sustainability principles through the use of assessment criteria, and examine the methodological implications resulting from the application of a structured SEA framework. Results of the application identified a renewables-focused electricity supply preference, but with several implications for electricity sector investment and sustainability, including increased infrastructure requirements and increased cost of electricity. Results also demonstrate a practical approach to the operationalization of sustainability through the application of assessment criteria that are linked to higher level principles. The use of structure in the SEA process provided for replicability, transparency and the ability to quantify issues of uncertainty in Plan, program and policy (PPP) decision-making, while at the same time maintaining flexibility to tailor the SEA framework to the electricity sector context.