The Howard E. Woodin Environmental Studies Colloquium Series

Seeing the Unseen: Using Visual Feedback of Electric Consumption to Engage Students
Michelle McCauley, Professor of Psychology, Middlebury College, and Thomas Wentworth ’18, Research Assistant, University of Vermont, and Independent Contractor, Staple Health

Environmental problems are human behavior problems. We will discuss our efforts to study visual feedback of electrical consumption as a method to motivate conservation behavior—even in a group-housing situation. We will explain the decisions we made in designing LED feedback for residents in campus townhouses. Finally, we will propose best practices for providing feedback in a manner that changes behavior while respecting an individual’s cognitive load.