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Learning in a Crisis: Online Skill Building Workshop Addresses Immediate Pandemic Needs and Offers Possibilities for More Inclusive Trainings

Session: Strategies and Actions for Fostering a Diverse Seismology Community

Type: Oral

Date: 4/21/2021

Presentation Time: 02:00 PM Pacific

Description: 

The COVID-19 pandemic led to the suspension of many summer research opportunities for STEM students. In response, the IRIS Education and Outreach program, in collaboration with Miami University, offered a free online Seismology Skill Building Workshop to increase undergraduates' knowledge, skills, self-efficacy, and interest in observational seismology and scientific computing. Registrations were received from 760 undergraduates representing 60 different countries. U.S. participants consisted of 59% women and 29% from populations traditionally underrepresented in geoscience. The workshop design consisted of a tailored Linux virtual machine, regular webinars, a Slack workspace, tutorial-style active e-learning assignments, and an optional final project. Every other week for 12 weeks, a module with ~6 assignments was released to build skills with Linux, webservices, Python, Jupyter notebooks, mapping software, seismic analysis code, and array processing. A final module focused on competitiveness for graduate school, summer internships, and professional jobs. Evaluation of the workshop relied on registration data, pre-/post- surveys, and performance data from the learning management system. 440 completed at least 1 assignment, 224 completed at least 80% of the assignments, and 191 completed all 35 assignments, significantly higher than most comparable large-scale, open-access courses. Participants invested ~6 hours per week and averaged a score of 88% on assignments. We identified >60% normalized gain in scientific computing skills. There is evidence the inclusive design of the workshop was able to attract and retain a diverse population, but we are investigating whether benefits were evenly experienced. Regardless of the degree of completion, participants perceived the workshop quite positively: 96% described it as high to very high quality, 83% satisfied to very satisfied with their experience, and 70% very likely to recommend it to peers. We will discuss future directions for the workshop, including strategies to continue broadening participation and improving retention.

Presenting Author: Michael R. Brudzinski

Student Presenter: No

Authors