The INFOMAR Education Outreach and Development Programme (EODP) Presented by Charise McKeon Geologist GSI
Why is INFOMAR targeting the Education Sector? The total direct value added to the Irish economy by the Geoscience sector in 2006 was 3.3bn, representing 2.24% of GNP. (Source: geoscience gaining ground) According to the OECD (return to degree qualifications), the return on investment in the provision of third level education for European economies is between 8% and 14% annually (per graduate once they have completed their studies) The PWC evaluation for the potential value of the INFOMAR programme in terms of the value of research to the Irish economy will be between 5 and 10 million by 2026 The majority of INFOMAR related research will require graduate level personnel to complete it If we provide information on INFOMAR to primary, secondary and third level institutions we can promote the programme across the entire country If we can get a small percentage of students engaging in INFOMAR projects to progress to third level in the scientific disciplines associated with Earth Sciences, Geosciences, ICT and GIS we will provide greater value to the economy as a whole
Decision Support -Light Portal & INFOMAR Apps -Expand License Support Tools Outreach / Education -Training (Vessel, Engineering, Surveying, Data) - Schools Project Toolboxes -Citizen science (Crowd Sourcing) A Strategic Goal for INFOMAR Research -SFI: Earth & Ocean Observation Cluster -European Ocean Obs & Predictive Capacity (Horizon 2020) -4D Data Visualisation & Analysis -Seamless Land to Sea Mapping -Acoustics Analytics / Feature Extraction Operations -Capital for vessel survey system upgrades -Multidisciplinary solution
Promote the INFOMAR programme there are over 35,000 TY students annually & growing Build a pilot project model and road test the model with TY students Engage the students Evoke a sense if interest in Earth sciences Expose TY students to GIS Expose students to Earth and Geo Sciences Expose the students to a live field study Expose the students to web maps and web coding Demonstrate how the study subject impacts the environment The outcome? Expose the students to differing scientific disciplines Show the students where the associated sciences are studied in Ireland
Our Initial TY year OEDP project
Lesson 1 Developing a Web Map The students set up web maps using ESRI tools Developing an Outreach & Education Programme Lesson 2 - Background to the project study theme and download of the mobile data collector The students learn about the science of the project and download a mobile data collector linked to the web map in lesson 1 Lesson 3 Preparing, executing and analysing the field study The students go to the field and use the mobile collector to collect data and link to the web map Lesson 4 Understanding web basics We link basic web development to the web maps and allow students edit and manipulate web maps using a development sandbox Lesson 5 Reviewing the project Analysing and collating the data, linking the project to relevant third level courses in Ireland and carrying out a survey on the student experience
Lesson 1 Covering map layers, base maps, legends and posting maps to the web
Lesson 2 & 3 Adding a collector layer to the web maps and then download a linked mobile app which gathers information which is visible on the web maps developed by the students
Lesson 4 The students cover basic web development tasks (simple web pages developed using html) so they appreciate the coding behind the web pages they have developed
Lesson 4 The students access the source code of a sample web map and learn how editing background web code(s) (html/css/javascript) allows the appearance of the map to change
Lesson 5 The students generate basic reports on the data collected and carry out a survey monkey questionnaire where they record their project experience
The Programme in Action National award winner for Best Location based Application for mobile & tablet (IRLOGI 2014)
Next Steps? Review the programme and edit the content based on the student & teacher feedback Re-test the revised model and make further changes as required Look to link the pilot into the national curriculum and Scoilnet
Additional EODP activity we have undertaken A "follow the boats " model has been initiated - allowing students to load a web page and see where the survey boats are - Starting in Lough Swilly - others are Tralee Bay and outer, South West, Blacksod, Broadhaven & Donegal A full list of contact email addresses has been collated for all primary schools in the forecasted survey areas (467) we have emailed them the follow the boats flyer to alert schools that the boats will be arriving at specific locations
Continuing our Programme The development of very simple project based programmes for primary schools Analyse the third level usage of the INFOMAR data and see if we can provide additional tools and services to third level undergraduate, masters and PhD students in order to link the data with their course structures and planned course development models
Thank You for Listening