United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Open Pedagogy Fellowship
Improving Life for the Homeless. Utilizing used electronic equipment for students and lowincome persons.

Introduction:

Courtney Webb, MA, Pima Community College (Arizona)
Jeanie Moon, Montgomery College (Maryland)
2021-2022

You are a part of a collegewide effort to increase access to education and empower students
through "open pedagogy." Open pedagogy is a "free access" educational practice that places you
- the student - at the center of your own learning process in a more engaging, collaborative
learning environment. The ultimate purpose of this effort is to achieve greater social justice in
our community in which the work can be freely shared with the broader community. This is a
renewable assignment that is designed to enable you to become an agent of change in your
community through the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs). For this work, you will integrate the disciplines of Sociology, Environmental
Engineering, ESL and Career Studies to achieve SDG #11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.
Homelessness as a social dilemma is on the rise across the country and here in Tucson, AZ. The
project seeks to engage students in study to understand what the problem is and how it originates.
Thereafter, students will be asked to either design or piggyback on an existing system that can be
utilized to improve, in some way, the lives of homeless persons. This can be designing a new
building, a housing complex, redesigning existing structures; utilizing natural resources and/or
modern technologies. Students will interact with staff at University of Arizona to learn about
different programs now in place that study and address sustainable life. Students will research
ways to rehab outdated electronic equipment for use by students and low-income students. The
secondary focus will be on SDG #8: Decent Work and Economic Growth and SDG #12:
Responsible Consumption and Production.
Learning Objectives:
Students will learn the basic seeds of the homeless problem. They will seek to learn what
resources are available to assist these problems: citywide, countywide, statewide; with Federal
and private resources. They will engage with staff and faculty at the University of Arizona (where
they will soon be students) to explore programs and activities that are currently in place to create
sustainable environments in our community. They will design their own project, keeping in mind
available resources, and creatively explore ways to improve the living situations of the homeless
population. Students will research ways to recycle electronic equipment for reuse.

Purpose/Rationale:
Many people in our society are aware and troubled by the continual rise in the homeless situation.
Most of us are confused about how to assist these people. What is the right answer? The homeless
situation in our society actually affects all of us in ways that we are not aware of. The resources of
police, paramedics, doctors, hospitals, street workers, etc., the list goes on, are pulled into the
ongoing daily dilemma of these folks. As a society, we need to come up with some fair and
equitable solution/s to these continued and rising problems.
Additionally, the stockpile of old electronic equipment in junkyards grow; the homeless and low
income persons need to have access to very low cost electronic equipment like cell phones and
computers in order to keep up with the daily activites of modern life and school.
Instructions:
Framing the project: Students will first do research to discover likely causes of the rising
homeless situation. We will go on a field trip to the ENR2 building onsite at the U of A campus.
We will tour the Environmental and Natural Resources Building 2 and find out about UA
programs that deal with sustainable environments. Students will contact a faculty member of UA
who aligns with their personal project and seek to get information about how their particular
project may be accomplished. Students will do research to find out what is currently being done in
our local area to help the homeless. Students in MD will research what activities are currently in
place to rehab and sell electronic gear.
Further Instructions: Students will do a write up about their initial findings on the homeless. They
will then do a discussion on their meeting with the ENR2 faculty meeting and thereafter; combine
the two to define their own project. For example: students can develop ways the public library
system can utilize refurbished computers to loan out for low-income patrons on a long-term basis.
This will reduce inequalities by providing technology ‘gear’ to individuals who otherwise could
not afford to buy them. Students can investigate ways that computer-recharging ports can be made
accessible to the public without charge.Instructions: Students will do a field trip to the UA
Library. The librarians will discuss aspects of research writing. In addition, the librarians will
discuss Open Educational Resources that exist at the UA Library and direct students on how to
find and use these resources.
Format Requirements:
Format Requirements: Lastly, students will combine their research and design activities into a
presentation. The final product can be a paper, a PowerPoint, or a video. The student may also
create a 3D representation of their design and explain how it will work.

Improving Life for the Homeless. Utilizing used electronic equipment for students and lowincome persons is licensed by Courtney Webb, MA, Pima Community College (Arizona) and
Jeanie Moon, Montgomery College (Maryland) under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International (CC BY-NC-SA)

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Open Pedagogy Fellowship
Improving Life for the Homeless. Reclaiming used electronic equipment.
Courtney Webb, MA, Pima Community College (Arizona)
Jeanie Moon, Montgomery College (Maryland)
2021-2022
Introduction:
You are a part of a collegewide effort to increase access to education and empower students
through "open pedagogy." Open pedagogy is a "free access" educational practice that places you
- the student - at the center of your own learning process in a more engaging, collaborative
learning environment. The ultimate purpose of this effort is to achieve greater social justice in
our community in which the work can be freely shared with the broader community. This is a
renewable assignment that is designed to enable you to become an agent of change in your
community through the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs). For this work, you will integrate the disciplines of Sociology, Environmental
Engineering, ESL and Career Studies to achieve SDG #11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.
Homelessness as a social dilemma is on the rise across the country and here in Tucson, AZ. The
project seeks to engage students in study to understand what the problem is and how it originates.
Thereafter, students will be asked to either design or piggyback on an existing systems that can be
utilized to improve, in some way, the lives of homeless persons. This can be designing a new
building, a housing complex, redesigning existing structures; utilizing natural resources and/or
modern technologies. Students will study how to reclaim used electronic equipment for its use for
students, the homeless and low-income persons. The secondary focus will be on SDG #8: Decent
Work and Economic Growth and SDG #12: Responsible Consumption and Production.
Learning Objectives:
Assignment Learning Objectives: Students will learn the basic seeds of the homeless problem.
They will seek to learn what resources are available to assist these problems: citywide,
countywide, statewide; with Federal and private resources. They will research the resources that
are currently available and that are being used now. They will explore (as much as they are able)
what the specific needs of the homeless are from the street perspective. They will design their

own project, keeping in mind available resources, and creatively explore ways to improve the
living situations of the homeless population.

Purpose/Rationale:
Many people in our society are aware and troubled by the continual rise in the homeless situation.
The homeless situation in our society actually affects all of us in ways that we are not aware of.
The resources of police, paramedics, doctors, hospitals, street workers, etc., the list goes on, are
pulled into the ongoing daily dilemma of these folks. As a society, we need to come up with some
fair and equitable solution/s to these continued and rising problems. Additionally, the number of
used phones and computers continue to rise in junkyards. How can these devices be rehabbed for
the use of students and low income persons?
Instructions
Creating and recording the assignment: Students will first do research to discover likely causes of
the rising homeless situation. We will go on a field trip to the ENR2 building onsite at the U of A
campus. We will tour of the Environmental and Natural Resources Building 2 and find out about
UA programs that deal with sustainable environments.
Students will do research to determine if any studies have been made to determine what the
homeless themselves feel they need the most.
Further Instructions: Students will do a write up about their initial findings on the homeless.
Students can choose from a number of different projects, such as: students can develop ways the
public library system can utilize refurbished computers and telephones to loan out for low-income
patrons. Students can investigate ways that computer-recharging ports can be made accessible to
the public without charge.
Students can choose to design a Tiny House that can be used to house the homeless to give
security and privacy. Also, pre-engineering students can study inexpensive ways to deliver
electricity to such a house.
Students can study water and conservation of water resources that can be used for the homeless. A
large issue for the homeless, in Tucson, is a lack of facilities for hygiene. Students can explore
shower and hygiene options.
Once a homeless person has a phone, how do they get Internet service? Students can explore
Internet Zones for public use.
Students can explore the funding that is currently available to help the homeless. They can
research where the funds come from: city, county, state, Federal and private. They can create a

grant-writing project to target specific funds. They can explore which homeless groups are the
most in need and determine what those specific needs are to be.
Students can explore Medical Clinic options for the homeless. Who is available to provide
medical care to the homeless? Nursing students and medical interns from UA? How to find
licensed psychiatrists to prescribe and delivery psychiatric medications.
Food: Students can study ways to deliver food to the homeless so they don’t go hungry. They can
look into the funding and delivery of food.
Rehabbed Electronic Gear: Students in MD can research they ways in which the gear can be
rehabbed. Then, once that is done, how can the gear be distributed?
Format Requirements:
Format Requirements: Lastly, students will combine their research and design activities into a
presentation. The final product can be a paper, a PowerPoint document or a video. The student
may also create a 3D representation of their design and explain how it will work. They can share
their projects with other students using Google Sites. The final presentation can be on YouTube,
FlipGrid or Prezi platforms.

Improving Life for the Homeless. Reclaiming used electronic equipment is licensed by
Courtney Webb, MA, Pima Community College (Arizona) and Jeanie Moon, Montgomery
College (Maryland) under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA)