P24: Methodology
E-poster session | Chairperson: Vickie Curtis | Wednesday, 09 September 2020 | 19:00-19:15
19:00-19:05 | P24.1 Empowering citizens to design and launch their own citizen science investigations through the nQuire platform
Author/s: Christothea Herodotou, Tina Papathoma, Maria Aristeidou, Mike Sharples and Eileen Scanlon
Presenter: Christothea HerodotouSummary:
The nQuire platform (nquire.org.uk) is an innovative citizen science platform developed at the Open University, in collaboration with the BBC. It has been iteratively designed to address a major gap in the field of citizen science, that of a dynamic and educationally-sound digital solution that will enable members of the public to act as scientists. The platform allows citizens not only to contribute to projects but also design, run and manage projects within a single learning environment. The vision of the nQuire platform is to educate the public in thinking scientifically through the support of technology and knowledgeable others.
19:05-19:10 | P24.2 Action-research: assessment on using a 3D participatory platform for reviewing a Swiss city urban development plan
Author/s: Thibaud Chassin, Jens Ingensand and Florent Joerin
Presenter: Thibaud ChassinSummary:
The revision of a city’s Master Plan is a crucial step for its urban future development. Engaging citizens in its elaboration could increase its acceptance and understanding by the public. In this study, we suggest to use a 3D participatory digital platform to improve public engagement. In our 3D virtual platform, citizens were able to share their preferences about various city places. However, the authorities requested to abandon the 3D representation in favor of a 2D portrayal. Our conclusion regarding this decision is a distorted knowledge about 3D and a favored practice of 2D maps.
19:10-19:15 | P24.3 Addressing the measurement gap: embedded assessment strategies to understand volunteers’ skill
Author/s: Cathlyn Stylinski, Tina Phillips, Veronica Del Bianco, Karen Peterman, Rachel Becker-Klein, Andrea Wiggins and Jenna Linhart
Presenters: Cathlyn Davis Stylinski, Veronica Del BiancoSummary:
Embedded assessment (EA) is an effective but uncommon method to unobstructedly determine volunteers’ skill proficiency. We are studying two strategies to streamline the complex EA development process. With five project leaders, we are exploring secondary analyses of existing databases to find “tracers” of individual growth of volunteers’ skills. With another 10 leaders, we are co-creating performance-based common EA measures that are broadly applicable but authentic to diverse projects. Overall, our research will build knowledge and provide guidelines on an underutilized evaluation and research method relevant for citizen science and on understudied skill-based outcomes. We will discuss our approach and initial findings.