NEON citizen science academy: Online professional development opportunities for educators

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 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 that 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 200 educators (formal and informal) had signed up within the first ten days.  This course had had been designed for 30 participants.  Additional sections were offered in 2012 to meet demand.  A second course focused on data use in educational settings was added in fall of 2012.  The large number of registrants in both courses 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 the pilot, several more citizen science based online courses are in development and will be offered in the summer of 2013 using best practices and lessons learned from the 2012 courses.