Let's widen the circle!

A primary objective of the NSF project is to develop an International Network of educators and potential beneficiaries of educational materials who are willing to work together to develop new curriculum content, to test it out, and to distribute it to anyone willing to use it and learn from it. The purpose of this discussion group is to find ways to reach out to people who could benefit from being within this network.

Suggestions from our May 30th Workshop:

1. Pass out OSN business cards at professional society meetings, organizations, and conferences.

2. Use social networking sites (Facebook, LinkedIn) to share links to our site (also check out www.AddThis.com)

3. Place links for our WiserEarth site on the Society for Economic Botany, Society for Ethnobiology, International Society for Ethnobiology, etc. sites.

4. Pass the word on to relevant listserves (e.g., Social Science Working Group for the Society for Conservation Biology; Environmental Anthropology Section of the American Anthropological Association.)

(Jeanine here): I'm going to suggest that we use this blog to track two things:

1. Online resources for related networks that feature open-access materials, where we can share our work and post case studies and new curriculum content.

2. Meetings/other fora where we invite new members into the circle (Table 1, below)

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Online Resources & Related Networks

The OpenCourseWare (OCW) Consortium contains hundreds of universities from all over the world. See this page listing their international collaborators and the guidelines for membership: http://www.ocwconsortium.org/members/consortium-members.html. I wonder if it would make sense for each of our OSN members to consider having their institution become a consortium member.

I would propose that we ask someone from the OCW Consortium to serve as one of our network collaborators. The OCW is currently in the process of hiring a new executive director, so we might want to wait a few months until that person is in place before we ask them to help us.

 

I suggest that we provide a “PRIMER” to Open Access Journals (and Open Access Materials) along with meta-data links on our WiserEarth site as one of the benefits that we provide to our members (note: there are still many Open Access Journals that are not yet part of the Public Knowledge Project (PKP) managed by Simon Fraser University).

 

I would like to recommend we consider becoming a PKP STRATEGIC PARTNER – see this website: http://pkp.sfu.ca/strategic-partners

 

We really need to consider the issue of LANGUAGE and how we can make strides in offering material in languages other than English. For example, in some instances we can ask network members to translate materials for us. But we need to recognize that many of our colleagues (especially those working part-time or based overseas) cannot always afford to provide free labor to forward our agenda, and we should be able to offer modest compensation, such as sponsoring a 2-year membership in a Society (this is what ISE has offered for persons who translated the Code of Ethics into other languages).

 

Network of Conservation Educators & Practitioners

American Museum of Natural History - Center for Biodiversity Conservation

Student modules, training events, networking & resources

http://ncep.amnh.org

National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science

At least four ethnobiology-related instructional modules available for downloading, plus >100 other modules in the natural, physical, and social sciences

http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/projects/cases/case.html

 

Planting Science

A project of the Botanical Society of America to promote botanical education. Society for Economic Botany and other groups are collaborators.

http://www.plantingscience.org/

American Indian Science and Engineering Society

http://www.aises.org/

Society for the Advancement of Chicano and Native American Scientists

http://www.sacnas.org/

 

Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences

http://www.manrrs.org/

National Science Teachers Association

Journal of College Science Teaching - Could consider approaching them regarding an entire issue devoted to ethnobot/bio lessons.

http://www.nsta.org/college/

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Table 1: Meetings & Other Fora Where We Spread the Word

Meeting Name	Date	# Contacts
Society for Economic Botany	June 2009
ISE Re-envisioning	June 2009
Indo-Pacific Prehistory Asssociation 19th Congress	Dec 2009