Over the course of 2021, UFERN convened a cross-disciplinary learning community of 15 undergraduate field educators interested in designing inclusive student-centered Undergraduate Field Experiences (UFEs). This group explored how to apply the recently-developed UFERN Model to design, implement, and assess student-centered Undergraduate Field Experiences (UFEs).
UFERN Model Examples Presented at OBFS 2022 Meeting: The apprenticeship-type, summer-long Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) fellowship or weeks-long residential field course is a common way to engage undergraduate students at field stations and marine labs (FSMLs). However, this kind of opportunity is not accessible to all students due to financial barriers, family and cultural barriers, lack of resources at the FSMLs themselves, and the limited numbers of students who can be involved. Please join us in this session to hear about a variety of ways that FSMLs have been removing these barriers and engaging undergraduates. The session will include short presentations about building a field research component into an introductory biology course for first-year students (UWM at Waukesha Field Station), and two other examples (TBD). The session will also include facilitated workshop time to apply the Undergraduate Field Experiences Research Network model (O’Connell et al. 2021), to guide participants’ thinking about diverse ways they might engage undergraduates at their FSMLs.
- Timing as a Design Factor in Non-Residential Field Station Programming at Ada & Archibald MacLeish Field Station
UFERN Model Examples Presented at the 2022 Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) All-Scientists Meeting: We facilitated a similar session at the LTER All Scientists Meeting in September of 2022 with examples from LTER sites. See below these examples
