2018 Network Meeting

Timeframe: Start: April 30 at 5 PM End: May 2 at noon
Kellogg Biological Station, Hickory Corners, MI

Overnight lodging will be available the night of April 29th and May 2nd for those who need it to participate in the full 2 days.

Venue: Kellogg Biological Station, in Hickory Corners, Michigan

Participants: We anticipate a group of 25 individuals, including the PIs and Co-PIs of the project. For this initial meeting, we are including participants on an invite-only basis to make sure we have all of the areas of expertise for our project represented. Future meetings will include a broader call for participants.

The ultimate goal of UFERN is to help improve intensive field experience programs for all students by working together to better understand outcomes and how these relate to features of our programs and to characteristics of our students. In so doing, we will advance the scholarship of field- and place-based learning.

At the first UFERN network meeting, we will work together to:

• Identify high priority initiatives and form working groups to plan and start specific products for publication, coordinated research or other network action. Seed ideas include:
• A framework of student outcomes from intensive field experiences
• A classification scheme for describing key features of intensive field experience programs
• A map showing the methods currently used to assess student outcomes for intensive field experiences that identifies opportunities and needs for new tools and approaches.
• A synthesis of what we do and don’t know about who chooses to participate and why, including consideration of who do NOT even consider participation.
• Craft a shared vision for the goals and objectives of the UFERN Network and make plans for its growth and sustenance.
• Start coordinating research across programs and disciplines into important questions about field-based teaching and learning.

DRAFT AGENDA