Field Education and Support by the UNAVCO GAGE Facility

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November 17 - 18, 2014
UNAVCO, 6350 Nautilus Drive, Boulder, Colorado
The Worskhop will begin at 9 AM on Monday, November 17 and will end at 3pm on Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Workshop Convenors: Bruce Douglas, University of Indiana, Bob Wang, University of Houston, and Donna Charlevoix, Chris Crosby, Beth Pratt-Sitaula of UNAVCO.

Goals and Outcomes:
The goal of this workshop is to bring together educators who are interested in, or are already actively using, geodesy in a field education context. Faculty currently utilizing geodetic technologies will share their curriculum and lessons learned. We'll discuss challenges, best practices, and how to optimize the student experience. Finally, we'll discuss next steps, recommendations to UNAVCO for how to best support field education with technical resources and curriculum needs going forward. The final outcome of this workshop will be the development of a community-driven white paper on The Role of UNAVCO supporting Geodesy in Field Education. This would encompass Geodetic Imaging, GPS, and any other instrument/instructional support that fits with UNAVCO's mission. The content is to inform UNAVCO, in particular the Education and Community Engagement Program, on how to best support university field education efforts.

Overview:
Fieldwork is an integral part of the geosciences and there is a longstanding tradition of teaching field methods as part of the undergraduate curriculum. As the technologies for scientific examination of Earth have grown, there is more interest in introducing these technologies into field education curriculum. Geodetic technologies commonly used by the research community include static and real time kinematic (RTK) GNSS, Terrestrial, Airborne, and Mobile Laser Scanning (TLS, ALS, MLS - based on lidar [light detection and ranging] technology), radar, and photogrammetry. UNAVCO, which runs the National Science Foundation's (NSF) geodetic facility (GAGE: Geodesy Advancing Geosciences and EarthScope), has over 30 years experience providing cutting edge technologies in support of scientific advancement. UNAVCO has a long track record of professional classroom development of graduate students, post-doctoral researchers and faculty with technical short courses focused on technologies supported by UNAVCO. It is critical to incorporate technology exposure, training and education into university classes and to provide professional training opportunities for the next generation of geoscientists.

There is growing need for a comprehensive approach to supporting university faculty with incorporation of UNAVCO supported technologies in their courses and field camps (here collectively referred to as "field education"). In particular, UNAVCO aims to collect community input on scoping and resourcing this effort. Areas of potential effort include:

• Engineering support in an instructional setting
  
• Education Specialist support to instructors pre-, post-, or during the instructional period
  
• Development and support for a repository of educational materials and resources for field education activities
  
• Support of short courses for faculty to gain experience with technologies before using them in the classroom

GNSS/GPS:
Geodetic survey technologies such as static and real time kinematic GNSS surveys are common-place in the research community. These tools are sometimes used in classroom exercises either by themselves, or in tandem with other geophysical sampling methods (e.g., gravity, seismic, etc). Although some universities have RTK GPS systems and the expertise to utilize them, others do not. UNAVCO has a large pool of GPS equipment, and expert field engineering staff trained to operate the instruments. UNAVCO has provided limited support for field education using GPS, but we believe there is the potential for greater utilization of UNAVCO's resources in support of education.

Geodetic Imaging:
Geodetic imaging (GI) technologies (terrestrial, airborne, and mobile laser scanning; Structure from Motion; terrestrial radar) have emerged as critical tools for a range of earth science research applications. Increasingly, educators have also begun to induce these technologies, and the datasets they generate, into classroom and field education settings. Over the past five years UNAVCO has been working with faculty from a variety of institutions to introduce terrestrial laser scanning into field camps and seminar courses. The demand for education and outreach related support has increased substantially. However, there are challenges associated with using this technology and the data generated in an educational setting. Computing resources, data volume, limited numbers of scanners, and the need for trained staff to operate the equipment all must be considered by instructors.

Contact:
Chris Crosby - crosbyunavco.org
Donna J. Charlevoix - donnacunavco.org

This workshop is at capacity and is closed. If you would like to be waitlisted please contact maglioccaunavco.org

Travel Arrangements

Agenda & Presentations

Final Workshop Report

 

Last modified: 2019-12-24  01:25:51  America/Denver