Citizen Science Academy: Exploring online professional development courses for educators to enhance participation

Background/Question/Methods

The NEON Citizen Science Academy came about as a result of the need for online professional development (PD) resources and opportunities that explicitly focus on implementing citizen science (CS) in diverse educational settings.  In the past decade, there has been more widespread acceptance of online PD courses as viable alternatives to face-to-face classes and workshops.  This acceptance, along with the current proliferation of online ecology-based citizen science programs, spurred the development of NEON’s Citizen Science Academy, dedicated to providing online courses and resources to facilitate effective implementation of programs designed to engage the public in scientific data collection and analysis. Using NEON’s Project BudBurst as the pilot, an online self-paced course for informal and formal educators that would provide background knowledge and guide participants though the data collection and reporting process was developed, piloted, and evaluated.  Would online courses enhance participation?  Would online courses support a community of practice? Would online courses be able to reach a broader audience of participants?  Finally, would participants in online courses submit more valid data and be more confident regarding their observations and analyses? 

Results/Conclusions

An intended outcome of this pilot project was the development of best practices based on lessons learned that could be used for the development of future NEON online courses and shared with the citizen science community at large.  The pilot clearly demonstrated the in interest in an online citizen science course.  Upon opening registration for the first quarter of 2012, over 60 educators (formal and informal) had signed up within the first two days.  This course had had been designed for 30 participants.  An additional section was subsequently added to accommodate demand.   Two additional sessions filled within 2 weeks resulting in over 200 formal and informal educators from more than 20 states enrolling in the inaugural NEON Citizen Science Academy online course.  The large number of registrants exceeded expectations and allowed for a more in-depth assessment and evaluation.  The results strongly support that dedicated online courses support effective participation in ecology-based CS programs.  As a result of this initial pilot, several more citizen science-based online courses will be offered in the spring and summer of 2012 using best practices and lessons learned from the first quarter of 2012.