From Tool Integration to Competency Reconstruction: Digital Reform of an Environmental Impact Assessment Course

Abstract

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) courses at regional universities need to respond to the growing use of digital tools in
professional practice. Many courses still focus on technical guidelines and report writing, while students have limited opportunities to
work with environmental data, predictive models, and visual outputs. This paper describes a reform of the EIA course at Jiangsu University of Technology. The course was redesigned around four practical abilities: data processing, model application, spatial analysis, and visual
communication. A semester-long simulated EIA project linked classroom concepts with software tasks. Basic operations were introduced
through short online materials, while face-to-face sessions were reserved for discussion, troubleshooting, and revision. Assessment was
based on a digital portfolio containing data records, parameter logs, model outputs, and an interactive dashboard. Teaching observations
and student feedback suggest that the approach helped students connect software operations with professional judgment and made individual contributions in group work more visible. The experience also indicates that stable implementation depends on well-prepared case
resources, clear rubrics, and regular support from industry and interdisciplinary colleagues. Rather than treating software as an additional
topic, the reform places digital tools within the sequence of professional decisions required in EIA practice. Further quantitative evaluation
is needed to test the transferability of the approach.