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Core Courses: Themes, Topics, and Assignments

For students that are mid-sequence: ALL credits you have already earned will count towards the 35 credits required for graduation. For those in need of 1 or 2 credits who started before Summer 2020, we will work with you on alternative course options that will fit your sequence.

Themes, topics, and assignments
Conservation Science and Community (CSC) Biology in the Age of Technology (BAT) Issues in Evolution (IEV) Science Leadership and Media Workshop (SLMW) Master's Capstone (CAP)
Credits – Semester 3 (letter grade) Fall 3 (letter grade) Spring 3 (letter grade) Fall 3 (letter grade) Spring 2 (credit/no credit) Fall
Overall Theme Current and foundational issues in conservation science with a focus on community engagement. Applications of technology in addressing complex biological issues and in engaging the public in solutions. Current and foundational issues in evolution and education. Online discussions allow for in-depth discussion / understanding of the complexity of the issues. Writing and publication as an outlet for expressing ideas and influencing a field of practice. Understanding how authorship contributes to professional and personal development. Reflection, synthesis and discussion of master's work with a focus on overall impacts and how experience informs and applies to future work as conservation, education and inquiry leaders.
Skills Developed - Accessing, reading scholarly articles
- Web-based discussion
- Community engagement methods
- Peer Review
- Web-based discussion
- Peer review
- Using technology as an outreach / engagement tool
- Drawing major themes and concepts from scholarly articles
- Web-based discussion and facilitation
- Relating concepts to professional environment
- Increase overall skills and confidence in writing and research
- Methods for providing meaningful peer feedback/editing
- Personal reflection
- Confidence in writing and synthesizing multiple topics in a comprehensive summary
- Providing meaningful peer feedback
Details of themes/topics - Understanding conservation values and participatory action methods
- Human-wildlife conflicts
- Global and landscape approaches to conservation
- Technology and nature deficit
- Technology and conservation and wildlife management
- Using social media and technology for conservation education
- Evolutionary Theory
- Adaptation and natural selection vs. plasticity
- Sexual selection, kin selection, and altruism
- Speciation
- Human evolution
- Ethics in research and publishing -Building a publication project
- Identifying venues for publication
- Strengthening ideas in writing and project creation
- Analyzing and reflecting on personal experience and new understandings gained
- Reflections as a learning community
Assignment Overview Community Engagement Toolkits:
Empowers students to learn more about their communities (broadly defined) by engaging them in participatory techniques
Eco-Spot:
Using a technology based media tool (e.g. podcast, blog) students present a social or ecological issue to a chosen audience in a way that requires/ inspires active engagement.
Final Project:
Students demonstrate an understanding of course topics by connecting core themes to a project that is personally /professionally relevant: 1) lesson plan 2) review paper 3) infographic
Manuscript/Project for Publication:
By the end of the course each student will present and submit a final manuscript/media project to a chosen publication venue. Note: Evidence of submission of the PMW Leadership Challenge is a requirement for graduation.
Portfolio:
Provides a solid, comprehensive representation of a student's master's experience connecting projects with descriptive/reflective narrative; illustrates how their work has brought about change in local, national and int'l contexts.

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111 Upham Hall
Oxford, Ohio
Est. 1994