The Burnout Phenomenon: A Comparative Study of Student Attitudes toward Collaborative Learning and Sustainability

The importance of sustainable design and building practices has been well documented in recent literature by Stieg (2006), and as the emphasis on this type of design and construction continues to grow, institutions of higher education are increasingly integrating sustainable design into their curriculum. Congruent with this movement has been the growing realization that interior designers must be able to work and collaborate with a diverse and multifaceted workforce, particularly when sustainable design is a goal. Therefore, using a social constructivist approach this study sought to (1) measure the differences in attitudes toward sustainable design and collaborative learning between lower- and upper-division undergraduate students majoring in interior design at a Southeastern university, (2) investigate the potential impact of interior design education on attitudes toward sustainable design and collaborative learning among the sample, and (3) assess a potential relationship among the variables. Since the interior design program examined for this study incorporates increasing levels of sustainable design education and collaborative learning as students progress through the curriculum, the authors sought to determine whether upper-division students would display more favorable attitudes toward these competencies, which are so highly desired for the workforce. Results revealed that upper-division students held more positive attitudes toward sustainable design than lower-division students and provided support for a relationship between the two variables. However, contrary to expectations, results also revealed that upper-division students held less favorable attitudes toward collaborative learning than their lower-division peers. Educational implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.