Bilingual Online Weather Studies: enhancing diversity through collaborations

This work is collaborative effort between faculty at Universidad del Turabo, Gurabo, Puerto Rico and Indiana University Northwest, Indiana, USA. While Universidad del Turabo has the need make AMS online weather studies available in Spanish, Indiana University has the desire to develop bilingual course options that better serve the needs of a growing Hispanic population within the region. The project goals are (1) enhance weather studies knowledge and understanding amongst a diverse group of students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) areas in both institutions; and (2) overcome language as a barrier to education by providing a broader body of students with the opportunity to participate and train in the pursuit of geoscientific study. The objectives of the project includes(1) create a bilingual online weather studies course based on AMS online weather studies training; (2) implement the course at Indiana and Puerto Rico; and (3) assess STEM students performance and usage of online course and resources. Development of a bilingual (English-Spanish), 100% online AMS weather studies course from a traditionally taught course will be undertaken through a series of transitional phases. The developmental steps for this transition include: (1) design and implementation of a traditional, classroom-based AMS online weather studies course in English using AMS web-based tools. (2) translation of all materials from Phase 1 in Spanish. (3) design and implementation of 100% online AMS weather studies course in English. (4) translation of all materials from Phase 1 in Spanish. Prior to course launch and implementation we will define a series of assessment tools including metrics for student performance and success. These assessment tools will provide data for the success of each phase of course development allowing for comparison between traditional and online teaching approaches and the performance of each peer group. A pilot, one semester course will be implemented concurrently at Universidad del Turabo and Indiana University Northwest. During this pilot students will have access to both Spanish and English versions of online course materials.