| NSF Org: |
EAR Division Of Earth Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | May 4, 2020 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | May 4, 2020 |
| Award Number: | 2028737 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Laura Lautz
llautz@nsf.gov (703)292-7775 EAR Division Of Earth Sciences GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | May 15, 2020 |
| End Date: | April 30, 2021 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $49,611.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $49,611.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
107 S INDIANA AVE BLOOMINGTON IN US 47405-7000 (317)278-3473 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
1315 E. 10th Street Bloomington IN US 47405-1701 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES, Hydrologic Sciences, XC-Crosscutting Activities Pro |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a sudden shift to online teaching for most universities in the United States, and many globally. With little time to prepare, water resource and hydrology professors and lecturers must generate online content rapidly for at least the spring and summer semesters of 2020, with an increasing possibility this format will extend into the fall 2020 term. At the same time, there is large variation in access to and preparation for online delivery among institutions and individual faculty. In the hydrologic sciences, we expect preparation for the transition to online instruction and the resultant learning to vary based on program size, institution, instructor experience, and availability of instructional support. Taken together, there is a significant risk that hydrologic instruction will divide into ?haves? and ?have nots? as a result of these critical differences. Equal access to critical support and instructional resources during the transition from traditional to distance learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic is critical to closing this gap and providing equal access to high quality instruction in the hydrologic sciences. Thus, our goal is to enable access to educational infrastructure and training for instructors, and ultimately students, in the hydrologic sciences in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This project will implement six key activities to achieve our goal including: (1) facilitating two-way communication between instructors and students through panel discussions and survey templates; (2) enabling sharing of course materials through CUAHSI?s HydroShare platform; (3) developing open-source, data-driven educational resources; (4) developing a guest lecture database for hydrologic sciences; (5) community training and support using distance education materials and platforms; and (6) hosting a series of workshops and producing a synthesis report on distance education in the hydrologic sciences. The result of these activities will be a leveled playing field for accessible, quality education to all instructors and students in hydrologic science. Moreover, we expect these efforts to foster a community of online educators in hydrologic science who will develop and use educational resources that will persist well beyond the present COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, the expanded use of distance education resources supports ongoing initiatives to expand Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion in the hydrologic sciences by CUAHSI and the HydroLearn platform to share undergraduate educational materials.
This award was co-funded by the Hydrologic Sciences and Education and Human Resources programs in the Division of Earth Sciences.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic caused a sudden shift to online teaching for most universities in the United States, and many globally. With little time to prepare, water resource and hydrology professors and lecturers generated online content rapidly. At the same time, there was large variation in access to and preparation for online delivery among institutions and individual faculty. The overarching goal of this project was to quickly develop and give equitable access to high-quality online content, resources for improving online delivery, and build a community of practice for sharing the burden of maintaining quality teaching during this crisis.
As a result of this project, the following activities were catalyzed or completed:
Facilitate instructor-student communication. We implemented an anonymous, standardized tool for faculty to survey their students, understand the challenges they were facing and the resoruces they had available, and hear from their students about what was working and could be improved. As a result, educators could adjust their instructional methods in real-time during the semester and use the feedback to inform future course design.
Expand existing infrastructure to promote curriculum sharing. We organized online educational resources using CUAHSI?s HydroShare tool, making instructional materials freely available for use and adoption by other instructors. This effort includes contributions of entire courses, individual lectures or assignments, teaching modules, and other curriculum. This resource persists at the web location:
http://www.hydroshare.org/resource/148b1ce4e308427ebf58379d48a17b91
Development of open, data-driven resources. We developed a series of seven interactive ?shinyapps? for hydrology education, including associated curriculum and rubrics for their use. We worked with CUAHSI to set-up hosing of ShinyApps via their HydroShare platform to make this available to the community moving forward.
Development of a guest lecturer database for hydrologic science. We established a database by which hydrologists can volunteer to give guest lectures and can discover guests for their courses. This resource is hosted and maintained by CUAHSI to ensure sustainability into the future.
https://www.cuahsi.org/education/hydrology-guest-lectures/
Community training and support. We hosted a series of ?rapid response? webinars to provide training on best practices in online education. Moreover, these became a series of discussion forums where instructors could share their experiences, offer advice to one another, and support one another during the transition to online education. Moreover, we have established a special issue on Frontiers in Environmental Science titled Innovations in Remote and Online Education by Hydrologic Scientists that will synthesize and document the efforts and progress made by the community during the COVID pandemic response.
Last Modified: 07/29/2021
Modified by: Adam S Ward
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