Initial Publication Date: September 25, 2023

Leading a Workshop about EDDIE

EDDIE Workshop in a Box Guide and Template

Jump to: Planning for a workshop | Pre-workshop activities | Running the workshop | Workshop program template

Have you used EDDIE materials and want to share your experience with others? Leading an EDDIE workshop may be for you! EDDIE workshops bring together faculty and instructors to build a community interested in understanding the needs and barriers associated with teaching quantitative reasoning and teaching with large datasets. If you are interested in leading a workshop using EDDIE materials and approaches follow the suggestions below. You will find examples and advice on the logistics associated with planning, designing, and running an EDDIE workshop. On the Cutting Edge, NAGT's professional development program, also has a general and complete guide to designing and convening workshops.

This page has resources to help you develop a workshop focused on EDDIE teaching materials.

Planning for a workshop

Designing and implementing a workshop requires planning months before the workshop and follow-up after the workshop.

Connect with Project EDDIE

Before applying to run a project EDDIE workshop - check with EDDIE leadership to make sure you are coordinating with other project efforts.

Consider logistics:

Determine if the workshop will be in person or virtual.
Understand the durations of workshop times available. Often this is either 4 hours or ~8 hours with a break.

Show other logistical considerations

Decide minimum and maximum participant numbers (typically 10-40 in person). Make sure you have the right number of conveners or support people to manage the participants, usually not more than 10:1 or 30:2. The meeting organizers may require a minimum number of registrants to allow the workshop to happen.
Ask about room set up for in-person workshops. You will need a projector, internet access for everyone, tables with chairs and power cords in the room. Ideal set up is 6 person round tables with power to each table and free wifi. Make sure there isn't a cap on the number of wifi connections or that it is much higher than the number of participants. This can be an issue at hotel venues.
If the workshop runs longer than ~4 hours, consider how lunch or snacks will be provided and if there are catering options available from the organizers. Ask about how this is paid for - if it comes from participants' registration or is to be paid by the conveners.
Ask if you will have access to the participant list and e-mail addresses prior to the meeting and when you can expect them. This is critical if you decide to have them do pre-work or if you want them to have SERC accounts so they can work in private workspaces during the meeting.

Apply for the workshop:

Apply for the workshop through the host organization's regular process.
Announcements/abstracts should emphasize the interactive nature of the workshop and value to the participants
Include information about expectations (homework, having a laptop, participating in the whole workshop etc.)

Show Example workshop abstracts:

JASM 2022
Teaching Quantitative Reasoning Using Data: Project EDDIE
Summarizing, condensing, displaying, and communicating quantitative data remains a persistent challenge in undergraduate science education. The emergence of large, long-term and sensor-based datasets provides an opportunity to engage students in engaging with environmental challenges through open-ended exploration and interpretation.
In this workshop we will consider what it takes to be ready to teach quantitative reasoning with data in your course including: consideration of how to fit quantitative reasoning experiences into a syllabus, generating learning goals, and setting the context in a class so students are primed to be successful. We will also explore how your learning outcomes can be met using Project EDDIE teaching modules.
Project EDDIE is an NSF funded effort engaging faculty from a range of institution types to create flexible classroom modules that aim to expose undergraduate students to real-world experiences. The growing collection of modules includes topics in limnology, phenology, climateology, soil science, and hydrology and is freely available online. This workshop will include presentations, small-group work time, opportunity to explore the Project EDDIE modules and active discussions. Participants will leave with an individual action plan. Workshop participants will be asked to bring a laptop and complete a pre-workshop survey. More information about Project EDDIE: https://serc.carleton.edu/185645

Macrosystems EDDIE: Teaching Ecological Forecasting to Undergraduates
Ecological forecasting is an emerging approach which provides an estimate of the future state of an ecological system with uncertainty, allowing society to better manage important ecosystem services. Ecological forecasts are a powerful test of the scientific method because ecologists make a hypothesis of how an ecological system works; embed their hypothesis in a model; use the model to make a forecast of future conditions; and then assess the accuracy of their forecast, which indicates if their hypothesis is supported or needs to be updated. Consequently, freshwater ecologists are increasingly using ecological forecasts to predict how ecosystems are changing, but to date there have been few opportunities for receiving training in ecological forecasting at the undergraduate level.
Our team is developing teaching modules to teach the foundational concepts of ecological forecasting to undergraduates with R Shiny apps as part of the Macrosystems EDDIE (Environmental Data-Driven Inquiry & Exploration; MacrosystemsEDDIE.org). We use large, publicly-available freshwater datasets from NEON and GLEON to engage students in ecology and improve their quantitative reasoning. Each module can be adapted for use in introductory, intermediate, and advanced courses to enhance students' understanding of freshwater ecology, macrosystems ecology, and ecological forecasting. In this workshop, we will provide an overview of the Macrosystems EDDIE modules to instructors.

AGU 2022
Teaching Quantitative Reasoning Using Data: Project EDDIE
Utilizing quantitative skills and reasoning is critical in addressing real-world environmental problems. The use of real data can both illustrate the evidence-based thinking behind these environmental problems and their solutions as well as be a 'hook' to capture students' interest. In particular, large, long-term data sets provide an opportunity to engage students with environmental challenges through open-ended exploration and data interpretation. This workshop will use Project EDDIE materials to address what it takes to be ready to teach quantitative reasoning with data in your course including: consideration of how to fit quantitative reasoning experiences into a syllabus, generating learning goals, and setting the context in a class so students are primed to be successful. We will also explore how your learning outcomes can be met using Project EDDIE teaching modules.
Project EDDIE is an NSF funded effort engaging faculty from a range of institution types to create flexible classroom modules that aim to expose undergraduate students to real-world experiences. The growing collection of modules includes topics in limnology, environmental science, ecology, phenology, climatology, and hydrology and is freely available online. This workshop will include presentations, small-group work time, an opportunity to explore the Project EDDIE modules and active discussions. Participants will leave with ideas for how they can implement modules in the classroom. Workshop participants will be asked to bring a laptop and complete a pre-workshop survey. More information about Project EDDIE: https://serc.carleton.edu/185645

Pre-workshop activities (after approval)

Advertise

Work with SERC staff to create a workshop overview webpage that includes 1) the meeting, date, time and location of the workshop 2) the specific title and workshop goals and 3) the convener team and contact for getting more information 4) a link to the registration 5) a link to the online program either on the EDDIE website or on the conference website.
Workshop announcements should include the same information as the overview webpage and a brief workshop description.
Advertise the workshop to the EDDIE community and other communities you think will bring new interest to the workshop
Use other networks or communication platforms that are specific to your meeting

Show hashtags for social media

Communicate with participants

Not all conference planners or meeting structures will allow you to get access to the participants beforehand. Sometimes participants choose which session they want to attend at the time it starts. Sometimes there just isn't good communication with the meeting organizers. If you don't have access to the participants beforehand, make sure you are ready for the biggest and smallest number of people who could be in the room. Have a program introduction that will start participants from no knowledge of Project EDDIE or Quantitative Reasoning to get everyone caught up before the workshop starts.

If you do have access to participants by e-mail:

Consider if you will have participants do pre-work. Typical pre-work might include things like:
- Deciding which course they will add an EDDIE module to and finding the syllabus for that course
- Looking at the existing modules and considering which they might want to use
- Exploring a module (for example: Climate change) or completing part A of a module ahead of the workshop
- Reading the page about how modules are developed
Consider if you want a pre-workshop survey and work with SERC staff to create one if needed. Typical survey questions might include:
- Demographic information not included in registration or provided by the meeting organizers like what institution or department
- Something about what the participants teach - what level, discipline, course, format
- Information about what the participants expect to get from the workshop you could use to tweak the program.
- An exploratory question to get participants thinking about how they might change their courses.
After the workshop registration deadline, get the participant list and ask SERC to create a workshop e-mail list with the participants and conveners (see below).
Communicate with the participants that they are registered for the workshop, the time/date/location of the workshop, the workshop overview page URL, opportunity for getting more information, and a reminder to bring a laptop. If there is a online program, share that also.
Communicate any pre-work expectations and other materials (such as a syllabi) they need to bring to the workshop.
Consider how to communicate with late registrations if the conference allows late registration.

Virtual meetings

Make it clear how to connect to the meeting - if Zoom connections are going to be sent out the day of the meeting or if they will be behind a log-in, make that information front and center in your messages.
Remember to send a just-in-time reminder an hour before the meeting starts.
If there are significant, scheduled breaks communicate that ahead of time. Duration of time on the computer matters to some participants.

Communication with meeting organizers

Request participant lists after the early bird registration closes and updates after the main registration closes. Make sure you understand if they will add late registrants and have a plan for updating those people.
The week before the meeting, double check the room set up and particularly the internet connection.
Double check catering reservations if there are any.

Running the workshop

Create the program

Use the example programs to adapt your agenda to the time and audience of your workshop
Make sure to follow the guidelines of a Workshop in a Box: The workshop is interactive, encourages active learning pedagogy, makes best use of the EDDIE materials and generally follows the outline of the WiaB template.
All workshops must include: Code of Conduct, Exploration, ..., Action planning or individual next steps after the workshop.
If possible, provide a mechanism for feedback from the participants. SERC can help you set up an End of Workshop web based survey. There may be other mechanisms through the conference organization.
Project EDDIE has numerous workshop programs available to review

Show past programs

The program should include an overview of EDDIE modules and example module materials to help participants understand how they can quickly adopt or adapt these materials for their courses.

Show materials to use

Convene the workshop

In Person

Consider bringing sundries like AV cords, power cords, markers, pointers etc.
If you want to have back up paper copies of some of the materials, bring those with you.
Arrive early on the day of the workshop to have enough time to fix issues like tables not set up correctly or disabled wifi. Check your tech in time to fix it.
See if you can identify the person who can help manage problems that may come up like the conference organizer or the venue tech person. Conference centers will often have a 'red phone' in the workshop room.

Virtual workshops

Open the meeting room early.
Remember to send a just in time e-mail about connection information
Set expectations about norms for a virtual workshop. For example if people should keep their cameras on and microphones muted, if they need to raise hands or say their names before speaking etc.

Both modalities

Take attendance and ask if people want to be added to the EDDIE community e-mail list (if this wasn't done earlier).
Start and end on time
Have fun with the participants!

Following the workshop

Provide feedback to Project EDDIE about how thing went and what changes or supports would be helpful for future workshops
Forward us your participation information including how many people and their contact information if relevant.
Remind your SERC support person to mark the workshop pages as being in the past.
Send a thank you message to your participants (if you have their contact information) and let them know how to stay involved with the project.

Workshop program template

This section includes a complete workshop program that will help you develop a program aligned with your workshop goals.

Show the workshop program template

Expectations:

Participate fully in the entire workshop
Follow the NAGT Code of Conduct

Workshop Goals:

List workshop goals that will be used to show the participants what they will achieve at the workshop and for evaluation.

Show example workshop goals

The goals of this experience are to:

Connect with colleagues with a shared interest in teaching inquiry with open data
Learn about strategies for teaching with large datasets that improve quantitative reasoning in students
Become familiar with the Project EDDIE materials and the guiding principles used to develop them
Develop individual action plans and next steps for improving classroom teaching

Overview:

The overview should include an introductory paragraph and a description of the workshop format.

Show example overview

This workshop is an introduction to materials, approaches and 'on ramp' strategies to teaching quantitative reasoning in undergraduate courses for ecology, geology, hydrology and related fields created by participants in Project EDDIE - Environmental Data-Driven Inquiry and Exploration.

Summarizing, displaying, and communicating quantitative data remains a persistent challenge in undergraduate science education, and also a skill we seek out in research assistants and graduate students. The prevalence of large, long-term datasets provides an opportunity to engage students in engaging with environmental challenges through open-ended exploration and interpretation. Project EDDIE provides complete and straightforward, evidence-based teaching materials on a range of LTER-relevant topics to guide instructors in teaching with data and fostering students self efficacy in quantitative reasoning.

In this workshop we will consider what it takes to be ready to teach quantitative reasoning with (LTER, NEON, other) data in your course including: consideration of how to fit quantitative reasoning experiences into a syllabus, generating learning goals, and setting the context in a class so students are primed to be successful. More information on the Project EDDIE website.

Program:

List the times for each part of the workshop, including breaks. Make sure to inform participants of the time zone, especially if your workshop associated with a national conference.

12:00 Welcome and introductions
Ice breaker in break out rooms(2 rounds) :

What course are you thinking of modifying?
What is a goal or motivation for this change?

12:15 What is Quantitative Reasoning? Why Project EDDIE?

Introduction to Project EDDIE (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 5.5MB Dec7 22)

Consider your ideal student researcher

12:30 Introduction to Project EDDIE design

About the structure of EDDIE modules
ABC structure (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 322kB Dec7 22)

12:45 Activity - working with the Climate Change module

Working with the Climate Change module (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 2.9MB Dec7 22)

Working through Activity A
- Climate Change Module - Activity A Student Worksheet (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 178kB Sep22 22)
- Take notes on your experience as a student

1:05 Reflection as a group: the experience of being a student

What was the 'easy win'?
Would you be able to do this process again?

1:10 Explore: Statistical Vignettes Presentation

Statistical Vignettes (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 3.7MB Dec7 22)
Example: Project EDDIE Statistical vignette on regression
Explore other vignettes

1:30 Reflection and Gallery Walk Activity: How will this help your teaching?

Think about your course goals and the motivations you shared, how would your selected EDDIE Module align with these goals? What course/activity learning objective(s) are you planning to address in your course using the selected EDDIE module/materials?
Gallery Walk Activity - brainstorming about Project EDDIE teaching materials

2:00 Report out from Gallery Walk activity

2:10 Activity: Preparing to adopt an EDDIE Module

We will split into small groups in case you want to work with/discuss with other participants
Identify a module that you would like to use in your course.
Skim parts A, B, & C of the activity, including the student handouts, noting how these activities scaffold to allow students to develop skills in conducting inquiry and problem solving using big data.
- Download this handout Planning to adopt a Project EDDIE module (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 32kB Nov3 22)
- Take notes on your experience using the guiding questions in your handout.
Take a break, as needed

2:45 Activity: Report out on next steps - waterfall chat your planned next step. Discuss any remaining questions.

2:55 Closing and End of workshop survey

3:00 Adjourn

Additional EDDIE Resources:

Development Rubric and Guidelines and opportunities to contribute resources
Instructor Stories: document how instructors have used modules in their classrooms, spanning from small to large classes at a variety of institution types. These may give you ideas to try in your course.
Statistical Vignettes: are short illustrated presentations that explore common statistical misconceptions in earth and environmental sciences. These may be pared with EDDIE modules to help students improve their quantitative reasoning skills.
Project EDDIE Video Collection: provides tutorials for software and tools that may be useful for you and/or your students.
Project EDDIE Publications and Presentations
Webinars

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