Source: UNIVERSITY OF GUAM UOG STATION submitted to NRP
DEVELOPMENT OF ONLINE COURSES IN TROPICAL WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1029084
Grant No.
2022-70008-38352
Cumulative Award Amt.
$200,000.00
Proposal No.
2022-04481
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 15, 2022
Project End Date
Sep 14, 2025
Grant Year
2022
Program Code
[DEG]- Distance Education Grants for Insular Areas
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF GUAM UOG STATION
(N/A)
MANGILAO,GU 96913
Performing Department
Biology
Non Technical Summary
This project will develop two, new online courses in wildlife management. Currently, students graduating with natural science degrees from UOG are not U.S. Office of Personnel (OPM)-qualified to apply for jobs as wildlife biologists through federal agencies. By adding these two critical courses, students will have the opportunity to take all the necessary courses to be OPM-qualified wildlife biologists upon graduation. This will provide students with more employment opportunities on Guam, reduce the problem of brain drain by biological professionals, provide federal agencies with locally-trained wildlife biologists, and give students across several disciplines a better understanding of how to control and mitigate invasive species damage in agriculture and food production operations.
Animal Health Component
15%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
70%
Applied
15%
Developmental
15%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
13501991070100%
Knowledge Area
135 - Aquatic and Terrestrial Wildlife;

Subject Of Investigation
0199 - Soil and land, general;

Field Of Science
1070 - Ecology;
Goals / Objectives
The major objective of this project is tofill the gap in the University of Guam's (UOG) biology program and give students the opportunity to meet the government's OPM (Office of Personnel Management) qualifications as a federal wildlife biologist. This project will produce two essential wildlife courses, including lab activities, that are fully on-lineandspecific to tropical island ecology. Along with the goal to produce qualified wildlife biologists at UOG, this project will also be available tostudents attending other Micronesian colleges. These wildlife courses will train professionals throughout the Micronesian Islands on how to manage both native and invasive wildlife on small tropical islands.
Project Methods
I Plan of Operation and MethodologyStep1: Course planningThe first step of the course design will be defining the course focus, objectives and goals for each course (Wildlife Management and Herpetology). The instructional designer (ID) will collaborate with the subject matter expert(s) (SMEs) and college academic chair(s) to discuss course objectives and goals, as well as how to engage students to get the most out of each course. Along with course goals, specific learning objectives will outline what the students should know, understand, and be able to do once they complete each course. The objectives of each course will emphasize issues pertinent to island ecosystems in the Western Pacific. Both the ID and SME will take a webinar in course development, as offered by Quality MattersTM, or other similar organization.Step 2:Development details & timelineOnce the course objectives are outlined, the SME(s) and instructional designer will develop a timeline, deliverables, roles and technology requirements. The development timeline will include completion dates for major and minor stages of development. For example, the timeline will outline completion dates for the development of instructional activities for each unit. The ID and SME will also determine the best software to use to develop the course (SoftChalk, Genie, Grasp, etc.).Step 3: Course Design &DevelopmentOnce planning is complete, the SME will create weekly outlines for the course including topics, learning objectives for the week, lectures, readings, other media and multimedia needs, as well as assignment concepts.Instructional SupportReview and refinement of learning activity/assessment alignment with learning objectivesRubric developmentRefine learning activities/assessments for online studentsInstructor presence strategiesLecture DevelopmentSlide designScript editingLicensed imagesEdited charts and graphsEdited audioFully produced multimedia lecturePDFs of slides with transcriptsOnline lab simulationsMoodle Course Site DevelopmentExternally-produced resources (PDFs, multimedia, lectures, documents) loaded into course siteSet up course quizzesSet up course assignmentsSet up discussionsSet up gradebookReadings list provided to Libraries and added to course siteStep 4: Course Review and TestingOnce the course has been developed and produced in the on-line shell (Moodle), review and testing will begin. Initially, the course will be reviewed by the ID and SME to find any errors, broken links, missing assignments, etc. Following their review, the course will be sent to an independent reviewer, such as Quality MattersTM, or a similar organization.Proofread textClarification of instructions on siteDue date reviewsGradebook checkMultimedia checkDigital Course Pack checkOnce the material has been reviewed, tested, and approved, the courses will be offered as '394' courses. This allows the courses to be offered to students on a preliminary basis, prior to becoming a permanent course in the academic course listings. Following a successful first semester, the courses will be added to UOG's course listings. The course package will also be available to other institutions in the Western Pacific islands.

Progress 09/15/23 to 09/14/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience is potential natural resource students in Guam and the greater Micronesia region. Course development focuses on wildlife-related challenges on different islands. Modules target both general Wildlife management principles, and challenges specific to tropical islands in the Pacific Region. Presenting case studies from various islands ensures that students will be able to relate to the work that is being done in the region and how to adapt successes to other islands. Changes/Problems:The major change that we made this reporting period was to change our course development platform from Adobe Captivate, which had a lot of gliltches and frustrations, to Articulate 360. The meant re-working all of our slides and learning a whole new system. However, we have been very pleased with the results and have found this system to be much more user-friendly once we became experienced. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We (the PIs and the course designer) have switched to a new platform (Articulate 360), which makes the interactive learning so easy for the students. Learning the platform, however, has been challenging and has provided a lot of hours of hands-on learning and professional development for us. Once complete, the course will be used for both students and professionals to learn about wildlife management and conservation in the Micronesian region. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to finish the modules and open the first course online in the spring semester as a "test cohort". This will allow the students to give us feedback on what worked well and what did not, so that we can revise the courses to be ready for distribution.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We have developed 5 out of 8 modules for the Wildlife Management and Conservation course. These modules include innovative and interactive lessons that meet the student learning objectives and assessments to test how well students meet the learning objectives. We are still working on the last 3 modules of this course and putting together outlines for the Herpetology Course.

Publications


    Progress 09/15/22 to 09/14/23

    Outputs
    Target Audience:The target audience for this project are undergraduate biology students in Micronesia. We are developing course materials for wildlife management and herpetology that are specific to the Pacific Islands. Since there are almost no published materials for these topics in this region, we are having to develop most of the lesson material from scratch. Much of our efforts are focused on applying course topics to scenarios common to Micronesia, including species, culture, agriculture, and management techniques. Our efforts will develop guidelines for wildlife management in this region for many years to come. Changes/Problems:There are no major changes or problems. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Curriculum development for the Wildlife Management course is taking longer than expected, as there are no textbooks in wildlife management that correspond to tropical island environments. We are having to develop much of the lesson material from scratch, using scenarios and data from local islands. This has given us the opportunity to really focus the lesson material on problems and environments that are unique to Micronesia. We have also decided to use the material that we are writing to create the first textbook on Wildlife Management for Pacific Islands. The herpetology course will require some unique technology in order to help students have an online "field" experience with local herps. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Each course should be completely developed by the next reporting period and tested with the first group of online students.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? We have developed three complete units of the Wildlife Management Course, including interactive on-line lessons. We have outlined the remainig units and each is at various stages of development. The Herpetology course has been outlined and each unit is in various stages of development. This should be easier as the lessons can followa textbook quite closely.

    Publications