Initial Publication Date: August 20, 2019

Regional Network Development

Goals for changes in the regional network

  • To establish a regional network fostering communication and collaboration amongst 2YC geoscience faculty in the greater San Francisco Bay Region.
  • To leverage the resources of this network to greater facilitate and support transfer students from our institutions to our partner 4-year institutions.
  • To include local transfer universities as part of our growing network.

Strategies/Activities

The Northern California Change Agent team has run a number of workshops and events promoting connection amongst 2YC geoscience faculty, students, and 4-year institutions in the greater San Francisco Bay region. Workshops have promoted integration of active learning, metacognition, and greater inclusion in our individual classes. They have also sought to facilitate greater cooperation amongst campuses and 2-year and 4-year institutions. This cooperation helps primarily in the facilitation of transfer students in Earth and Environmental Sciences to university programs. It also helps with sharing of ideas back and forth with the greater educational community locally and gaining insight into effective practices in our classrooms. We have held four workshops for faculty, one of which was held prior to a larger event involving students and one of which was conducted as a webinar. In our face-to-face workshops, along with improving instruction in our individual classrooms, the ongoing building of a regional network has featured prominently. Along with meetings and personal content we are investigating developing an online presence that would help to keep this regional network intact.

Our two spring transfer-oriented events were huge successes. Students from De Anza and other 2-year colleges participated in events hosted by two of our important local transfer institutions. The first of these was held at San Jose State University and included discussions by university faculty on transfer requirements, research in the geosciences, and career opportunities in the geosciences: Improving Instruction and Supporting Transfer Opportunities in the Geosciences in the San Francisco Bay Area. Similarly at San Francisco State University, the program included discussions on transfer, majoring in the geosciences, career opportunities, and research: Exploring the Geoscience Landscape 2018. The most poignant moments occurred when after short discussions of faculty research at SFSU, their graduate and advanced undergraduate students presented their own research. It created enthusiastic discussions and engagement with the assembled 2YC students. We closed with this, giving time for an informal reception that most of the students attended, discussing the experiences of the university geoscience students in small groups.

Outcomes

The networking activities of our project have fostered a number of informal interactions and relationships that otherwise wouldn't exist. It is through these personal relationships that the network will ultimately grow. Linking participating faculty not only among 2YC campuses but with their university counterparts has helped in understanding transfer programs and in updating curriculum at several colleges. The enthusiastic participation and support of the faculty from university departments has helped in the overall momentum in terms of building a broader network in the San Francisco Bay region. In terms of other success we have confirmed a few transfer students in the geosciences majors that participated in one of our spring events. Moreover we gauged the enthusiasm of the student participants who had little if any understanding of the geosciences as a possible college major or career path. A greater understanding and appreciation for the discipline was obvious. As a result of the initial networking of faculty and impact on students' understanding and familiarity with the geosciences as a possible career path, we are in the process of putting together an online presence to facilitate this larger network development in the San Francisco Bay region.