Progress 09/15/07 to 09/14/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Student participants have been active in experiential learning activities throughout the project. Fifteen (15) agriculture and natural resource students attended the national MANRRS conference in Denver, Colorado during the year. Eight (8) of these students who were part of the Langston OWW team. Fifteen students attended the department's weekend outdoor learning road trip to the Wichita Mountain National Wildlife Refuge for a total environmental immersion where they were hosted by tour guides to study underground water sources in caves as well as water habitats in the refuge area. Students also pitched tents for this overnight camping experience. Three students who participated in the OWW initiative secured internships during the past summer and fall semester with the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, NRCS, and the City of Langston (Wastewater Treatment Facility. Six students worked as interns with project director and the natural resources management department during the duration of this project. Seven web-assisted water resource related courses (Intro. To GIS/GPS, Advanced GIS/GPS, Water Resources Management, Natural Resource Management, Water Quality, Fisheries Management, and a capstone Internship course) have material posted for course assignments and supplemental resources. Participating faculty contributed an estimated 600 hours towards OWW and 320 total hours per year on web-assisted learning and individual teaching activities in their respective courses. In addition, water testing concepts and techniques were utilized in three undergraduate courses offered by the biology department: Biology 0123, a general studies course; Natural Science Biology (which all students on campus are required to take); and Environmental Biology. The Langston OWW Team also received 2007 Educational Institution Award for Environmental Excellence at Annual Oklahoma Beautiful, Inc.'s Awards Banquet and Conference in Oklahoma City, OK. The WAM Team trained 25 university faculty, agricultural and extension personnel on GIS/GPS Tools for Watershed Modeling. The USGS, Water Science Center hydrologist (Dr. Bill Andrews) conducted two concurrent water quality seminars for 52 teacher educators, faculty and agriculture professionals. PARTICIPANTS: Agriculture and natural resources undergraduate students were directly impacted by classroom, internships, field trips, conferences, lake clean-ups, and volunteer water testing activities. Seven faculty members, three adjunct instructors, and four resource speakers from Oklahoma Water Watch, USGS, NRCS, and Blue Thumb assisted with re-design of web-assisted water resources related courses. Community volunteers assisted students with three lake sweeps. Biology faculty and biology students participated in water testing activities in and out of the classroom/laboratory. Agricultural and extension personnel from OK, TX, AR, MS, FL and IN, along with Oklahoma teacher educators were introduced to watershed modeling and learner-centered instruction on water quality. TARGET AUDIENCES: Agricultural and Natural Resources Students,Biology Students, University Faculty, and other Agriculture Professionals. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Since the Oklahoma Water Watch Program was suspended statewide because of budget cuts, we partnered with the Oklahoma Conservation Commission's Blue Thumb Program to continue our water testing efforts. It was more feasible to use various NAL web-based resources rather than pay for the NAL internship. The project directors partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and placed two GS-7 level student interns a one of the agency's regional offices to afford students better job experiences. Scheduling constraints, facilities damage and environmental conditions played key roles in changing our decision to attend the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory (MS). Project Directors believed it was a potential liability (safety) risk to expose students to potentially hazardous conditions of Gulf Coast waters after arrangements were made. Instead, students attended MANAARS conferences, trips to the Wichita Mountain National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma State University Water Resources Research Institute, and USGS. The National Center for Water Quality Research (NCWQR) experience was changed due to scheduling and un-negotiable cost constraints. Alternative arrangements were made with the Southern Regional Water Quality, Watershed Assessment and Modeling fulfilled this training requirement. Plans to pay Project Director for his time on this project and remaining mini-grant awards were not realized despite numerous efforts for university approval. However, the project director and those individuals affected by this decision continued to improve their courses without this incentive.
Impacts
The project has made significant impact with students being actively involved for the first time in water quality monitoring and measuring meaningful, real-world parameters on the OWRB state-sponsored initiative. Thus, Langston University has reinforced its service learning efforts on a statewide level. External partnerships with various water resources agencies and USGS have strengthened the department and allowed students and faculty to practice resource-sharing and incorporate more student-centered instruction for their respective courses. Hydrologic sciences curricula were developed and validated by USGS. The new multimedia lab equipment was desperately needed to allow faculty to utilize a local due to computer facility to help in web-based course development. Also, the new computers can now be used by departmental students due to limited computers in the department. The USGS, Water Science Center are working to install streamgage housing on the Langston University campus during the Spring, 2011 with an electronic stream monitoring gage retrofitted to continuously monitor Langston Lake. The biology department has incorporated water quality and testing concepts into three biology courses, one of which is required for all university students.
Publications
- McGowan, B.W., Stallworth, B., Moore, S., Faucette, R., Dukes, R., and Hill, C. (2008). Determining the aquatic health of Langston Lake (OK) through water quality monitoring and service learning. Abstract paper submitted at the 2008 USDA-CSREES National Water Conference, Spark, NV.
|
Progress 09/15/07 to 09/14/08
Outputs
The first year of the project primarily focused on building new partnerships and resource sharing. In October 2007, the project directors worked cooperatively with the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) to establish a first-time agreement under its Oklahoma Water Watch (OWW) program to prepare Langston University students and faculty as certified volunteer water quality monitors. Subsequently, an agreement was established. The project directors have also been formalizing its partnership with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) over the past year. Dialogue is ongoing with representatives of the Oklahoma USGS Water Science Center until a consensus agreement can be reached on implementation plans. On January 16-18, 2008, Dr. Bruce McGowan meet with administrators, faculty, scientists, and evironmental science students at Heidelberg College (Tiffin, Ohio) for three days of scholarly exchange and planning and facilitated a presentation and information sessions on the project and its success stories. On October 15-17, 2007, the project directors along with a partnering biology professor (Dr. Gnanambal Naidoo), presented a scholarly presentation entitled 'Langston University's Water Watch initiative' at the 2007 Southern Region Water Quality Conference in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Project directors became members of the Southern Region Water Quality Program, Water Assessment and Modeling Program Team, developed mini-grant proposals to participate in a National Facilitation Project facilitated by Tennessee State University, and participated in the preliminary conceptual work plan for a mini-grant consortium proposal, entitled Watershed Assessment Tools for Education and Training (WATER) Project., where Texas A&M is the lead agency of the grant proposal entitled, CSREES Southern Region Water Quality Project Proposal (2008-2012). Dr. Faucette attended the 2008 CSREES 1890 Grantsmanship Workshop held in Memphis, Tennessee. During the Spring semester 2008, four faculty members and 28 students participated in a series of OWW trainings (three separate training sessions) which culminated into more than 30 hours of total training time. Certified OWW volunteers also coordinated a service-learning activity, the Langston Lake Sweep, and joined with local residents, municipal employees, university student organizations, local schools, local USDA agencies, and area businesses to remove more than 800 lbs. of debris and solid waste along the lake shoreline. One student intern was employed to assist in this effort. Four faculty course designers participated in the mini-grant program to redesign courses with web-assisted course material. One student was hired to assist natural resources faculty with course re-design. PRODUCTS: No products to date. However, faculty course designers are in the process of constructing and implementing web-based and/or web assisted courses. OUTCOMES: Student participants have been active in experiential learning activities throughout the project. Fifteen agriculture and natural resource students attended the national MANRRS conference in Denver, Colorado during the year. Eight of these students who were part of the Langston OWW team. Fifteen students attended the department's weekend outdoor learning road trip to the Wichita Mountain Refuge where they were hosted by tour guides to study underground water sources in caves as well as water habitats in the refuge area. Students also pitched tents for this overnight camping experience. Three students who participated in the OWW initiative secured internships during the past summer and fall semester with the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, NRCS, and the City of Langston (Wastewater Treatment Facility. Three water resource related courses (Intro. To GIS/GPS, Advanced GIS/GPS, Water Resources Management, Fisheries Management) have web-based material developed for course improvement. The Langston OWW Team also received 2007 Educational Institution Award for Environmental Excellence at Annual Oklahoma Beautiful, Inc.'s Awards Banquet and Conference in Oklahoma City, OK. DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: Information about the project activities were disseminated across various venues. Water quality data from Langston Lake is collected and analyzed on electronic datasheets, then recorded in the state's OWW online database as part of the comprehensive statewide water plan. Other information about the project was shared via presentations at the 2007 Southern Region Water Quality Conference in Fayetteville, Arkansas - University of Arkansas and with the National Center for Water Quality Research researchers and environmental science students and faculty at Heidelberg College. FUTURE INITIATIVES: Future plans for Year 2 will involve completion of web-based and or web-assisted courses by posting material to the D2L instructional platform. The National Center for Water Quality Research (NCWQR) will facilitate the development of a research scientist/faculty exchange effort, and conduct a training seminar on advanced water quality parameters. Other arrangements with the NCWQR will be expected to assist participating departmental faculty in joint publication activities or projects. Students will also participate in a summer field trip to various water resources agencies and universities with the Southern Region. Students will also continue to participate in the Oklahoma Watch Initiative throughout the duration of the project.
Impacts
The project has made significant impact with students being actively involved for the first time in water quality monitoring and measuring meaningful, real-world parameters on the OWRB state-sponsored initiative. Thus, Langston University has reinforced its service learning efforts on a statewide level. External partnerships with water resources agencies and USGS have strengthened the department and allowed students and faculty to practice resource-sharing and incorporate more student-centered instruction for their respective courses. The new multimedia lab was desperately needed to allow faculty to utilize a local due to computer facility to help in web-based course development. Also, the new computers can now be used by departmental students due to limited computers in the department.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
|