Leah Wasser Receives Open Educator Award

Anonymous — Tue, 07 May 2019 19:31:56 +0000

Leah Wasser Receives Open Educator Award Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/07/2019 - 13:31

Educator Award from the ��Ƶ Student Government and the University Libraries. The award recognizes her openly-licensed Earth Analytics Python course that uses open source tools to educate students on Earth data science. An average of 50,000 unique global visitors access the course materials each month.

Wasser directs the Earth Analytics Education Initiative at Earth Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder, which offers collaborative, scientific discovery tools focused on integrating heterogeneous data, efficient and reproducible workflows, and the processing, analyzing and, visualization of data.

“As an educator, my enthusiasm for open access comes from the struggle I’ve seen so many faces of not having access to the training they need for their work, especially in the sciences,” said Wasser. “My own challenges inspired me to help reduce the barriers for others. Having things online makes learning more accessible to a broader audience.”

In addition to Wasser’s Earth Analytics Python / GEOG 533 course, the Earth Lab offers the Earth Data Analytics - Foundations professional graduate certificate, as well as undergraduate and graduate courses, an internship program and hundreds of free, online tutorials and courses. In this era of big data, rapid technological change and natural resource scarcity, Earth scientists with data science expertise are in high demand. The graduate certificate is designed to provide students with a powerful combination of skills in earth science, data analytics, interdisciplinary collaboration, and science communication.

��Ƶ Boulder is ranked No. 1 in the world for geosciences, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2019 Best Global Universities standings. “Earth Analytics builds off ��Ƶ’s strength in this field,” said Wasser, “but it also calls for greater communication and collaboration. Science fields are becoming increasingly interdisciplinary and scientists need to work not only with other scientists but with developers, engineers, and other disciplines.”

Outside of the classroom, Wasser leads pyOpenSci, a community-driven project devoted to supporting the development of open source Python tools and resources for scientists around the world.

Wasser sees her commitment to open education and open science as connected, as both allow accelerated advancement for our greater community. Rather than people spending time recreating things that already exist, Wasser says that providing materials in a space for reuse is more efficient and effective. She also said this method accommodates diverse student learning needs, such as those who succeed best online vs in-person or who require asynchronous access vs synchronous.

“Because all course materials are freely available online, students are able to work at their own pace while learning skills that enhance their employability,” said Professor Jennifer Balch in the Geography department, who nominated Wasser for this award. “Course evaluations have indicated that students found the course materials to be extremely valuable for their learning.”

Balch also noted that Wasser “is a visionary and a huge proponent of open science and open education,” who is involved in creating and promoting a variety of open source learning solutions. Wasser continuously updates the online materials to ensure both accuracy and relevance for users and noted that former students refer back to the course materials after they have landed in jobs.

For fellow faculty interested in exploring similar open access models, Wasser recommends that content be openly licensed from the start. She also encourages teachers to think through how their content will be cited and maintained over time.

��Ƶ Boulder Student Government and the University Libraries united to sponsor an annual award that would recognize campus educators who demonstrate exemplary use of open educational resources in their classrooms or teaching practice. Through this award, the ��Ƶ Boulder Student Government and University Libraries express their appreciation and congratulations to open educator Leah Wasser.

The Open Educational Resources guide provides resources for educators who are interested in exploring and identifying OER. The guide includes contact information for the Libraries’ OER Leads, Caroline Sinkinson, Melissa Hart Cantrell, and Merinda McLure, who are available to provide assistance.

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GEOG 4100-001 / 5100-003 Earth Analytics: Accelerating discovery with a view from Space

Anonymous — Thu, 08 Jun 2017 20:43:49 +0000

GEOG 4100-001 / 5100-003 Earth Analytics: Accelerating discovery with a view from Space Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 06/08/2017 - 14:43

This course will introduce graduate and undergraduate students to major unanswered questions in Earth science and to the analytical tools necessary to undertake exploration of ‘big data’ from a suite of sensors. This course aligns with Earth Lab, a new initiative of the university’s Grand Challenge efforts to use our expertise in space-based observation and exploration to address our world’s most pressing problems. For 50 years, ��Ƶ-Boulder has been a leader in Earth and Space sciences. We have sent instruments to every planet in our solar system and are among the world's leading public universities in producing astronauts. We explore our own planet from the depths of the ocean to the upper limits of the atmosphere. One new frontier is right at our fingertips, in the data we have already created about our planet and our species.

The course will be structured by cutting-edge topics chosen as initial Earth Lab projects, including active research to better: Understand how fire is changing in the western U.S. over the past two decades (Project Fire); Predict drought for improved management of water resources (Project Drought); Improve risk management and decision-making in land use and hazards mitigation (Project Risk); Determine the sensitivity of permafrost to a warming Arctic (Project Permafrost); Identify how rapid and slow landscape evolution impacts our lives. (Project Erosion); Determine what is driving Colorado forest dieback. (Project Forest); and examine how data at varying resolutions represents Earth System phenomena (Project Data Harmonization). Earth Lab’s mission is to harmonize the wave of Earth observations from aerospace platforms to address scientific challenges in understanding the pace and pattern of global change to help society better manage and adapt. This course offers a unique opportunity to take part in this multi-disciplinary endeavor. Students will be trained to use analytical tools for data management, analysis, and visualization. Students will be expected to choose a topic area of interest to explore throughout the semester, producing a final paper or project that contributes to the analysis and/or theoretical underpinning of a selected Earth system science problem. This is an advanced course that is open to juniors, seniors, and graduate students with an interest in developing Earth Analytics expertise, including students from the natural and social science disciplines.

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