Bringing ocean observations to the classroom - integrating research infrastructure into education
Roger Proctor1, Xavier Hoenner2, Sebastien Mancini3, Katherine Tattersall2, Jason D Everett4, Iain M Suthers5, Peter David Steinberg5, Martina Doblin6 and Tim Moltmann3, (1)University of Tasmania, Integrated Marine Observing System, Hobart, TAS, Australia, (2)University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia, (3)University of Tasmania, Integrated Marine Observing System, Hobart, Australia, (4)University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia, (5)University of New South Wales, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Sydney, Australia, (6)University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, Australia
Abstract:
For the past 4 years the Sydney Institute of Marine Science, a partnership of four Australian Universities (Macquarie University, the University of NSW, the University of Sydney and the University of Technology Sydney) has been running a Master’s degree course called Topics in Australian Marine Science (TAMS). This course is unique in that the core of the course is built around research infrastructure – the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS). IMOS, established in 2007, is collecting unprecedented volumes of multi-disciplinary oceanographic data in the ocean and on the continental shelf which is made freely available across the web; IMOS frequently runs ‘data user workshops’ throughout Australia to introduce scientists and managers to the wealth of observations available at their fingertips.
The Masters course gives students an understanding of how different measurement platforms work and they explore the data that these platforms collect. Students combine attending seminars and lectures with hands on practicals and personal assignments, all built around access to IMOS data and the many tools available to visualise and analyse. The course attracts a diverse class with many mature students (i.e. > 25 years old) from a range of backgrounds who find that the ease of discovering and accessing data, coupled with the available tools, enables them to easily study the marine environment without the need for high level computational skills. Since its inception the popularity of the course has increased with 38 students undertaking the subject in 2014. The consensus from students and lecturers is that integrating ‘real’ observations into the classroom is beneficial to all, and IMOS is seeking to extend this approach to other university campuses.
The talk will describe the experiences from the TAMS course and highlight the IMOS approach to data discovery, availability and access through course examples.
