Ecology in the cloud: Undergraduate students driving inter-institutional, collaborative research

Background/Question/Methods

Inter-institutional, multi-investigator collaborations have become the norm for many ecological studies because they facilitate efficient use of limited resources and lead to synergistic outcomes. The Ecological Research as Education Network (EREN) is an example of a program that encourages faculty at primarily undergraduate institutions to develop inter-institutional, collaborative research that is not only novel and exciting, but also provides undergraduate students an opportunity to learn research skills. One of the aims is to use research as a pedagogical tool within ecology courses. As participants of EREN, we chose to extend the inter-institutional collaboration to our undergraduate students, thus increasing their exposure to skills necessary for ecological research beyond traditional field and lab activities. Two students from The University of Findlay (OH) and four students from Washington & Jefferson College (PA) were divided into two multi-institutional teams to collaborate on the Permanent Forest Plot Project, a research project facilitated by EREN. Students were enrolled in courses for which they received credit, and they were tasked with conducting a semester-long group research project. Our goal was to develop a model for collaboration among students from different undergraduate institutions.

Results/Conclusions

In September 2012, students from our courses met to develop research hypotheses within the context of the existing EREN project, to establish field plots, and to begin data collection. Each institution’s group of students continued field work during the semester at their respective institution’s sites, while each inter-institutional team communicated via email on a semi-regular basis.  The teams worked together to share data, complete analyses, and generate posters that were presented at their schools’ respective research symposia and two regional symposia for undergraduate research. As instructors, we served as role models for demonstrating collaborative skills, and we mentored team members in design, analysis, and presentation. Students struggled with the collaboration, in part because of different deadlines by instructors and because students were unsure how best to share resources. Tools that were found most helpful for facilitating work were email, text messaging, and online collaboration tools, including Google Docs. Future collaborations should ensure that due dates and syllabi are consistent across institutions, that online collaboration tools are used earlier in the process (e.g., idea generation), and that students meet weekly online for progress updates.