Online courses
WeObserve will create and deliver a learning infrastructure to support citizen scientists to use the tools, protocols and guides for collaborative citizen science projects. In addition, the practical skills, e.g. scientific protocols for data collection, use of sensors and other equipment, site selection, methods design and data collection have the potential to be be taught through this platform. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) combine traditional educational materials and an online community of international learners to deliver a targeted learning journey in the area of environmental and citizen sensing.
One of the key benefits of delivering a MOOC is that it has unlimited participation and are open access via web-based platforms to people all over the world. WO will be using the existing and established platform, FutureLearn, in order to maximize the number of potential learners and use tried and tested framework for delivery. FutureLearn, which will be supported far beyond the funded period and brings a highly scalable platform into the CO ecosystem, capable of sustaining more than 100,000 learners at one time. A core component of the FutureLearn platform is shared learning and building a community of learners by initiating conversations and shared experiences. This approach helps WO MOOC learners form an international community around a shared interest of environmental monitoring.
To further support the growth in interest and practice of COs, WeObserve in partnership with FutureLearn launches its first MOOC entitled as ” Citizen Science Projects: How to Make a Difference”. On this 4 weeks online course, starting from November 18th, 2019, the participants will be able to find out how to lead a citizen science project, including the best practices for community building, question forming and data collecting as well as how to interpret the data you collect and use your findings to educate others about environmental concerns.Watch the trailer here. If you would like to explore environmental issues, take action and become a changemaker, register here.
