Assignments

### Unit Assignments

Purpose:
No matter what stage of your life you are in - an undergraduate, a new graduate student, an established professional - the most important thing we can learn is taking agency in our own education.  This course can provide you with a broad introduction to the current state of biodiversity research, but I can't cover everything and what each student in the class needs/wants will be different. The purpose of the unit assignments is to encourage you to engage with learning about biodiversity research in whatever way makes the most sense for your educational goals and interests. 

Before we start a unit, read through the activities below think and think about what might be most useful to you. Should you spend time learning the jargon? Is there a topic you think you should learn more about that is not going to be covered in class? Do you think you should read a paper or attend a talk focused on a specific ecosystem or taxa? 

For each unit, pick and complete one of the following activities.

* Attend an on campus or on-line scientific seminar related to the unit theme. Provide a short summary (can be completed in written or verbal format) that provides the following information:
    * Title of talk and name of presenter, 
    * 2-3 sentence summary of what the talk was about. This is just to provide me with some context so I can understand your answer to the next question. 
    * 3-5 sentence explanation of how the talk relates to the theme of the unit. This is the thing I want you to really think about. Do they talk about processes we discuss in class? Maybe you realize how it relates to a specific process we've discussed but they didn't mention? Maybe they cover something we've never talked about in class but you feel is really relevant for the unit we're in
    * What cool thing did you learn that you did not know before. In even the worse, most boring talk, ay advisor was able to find something fun in every talk he attended.I think it's a good skill to cultivate.

* Contribute to the class glossary. Biodiversity research is a jargon heavy research area because it integrates so many ideas and processes studied in different fields. There is no shame in having no idea what a word means and if you don't know it, the odds are good someone else doesn't either. Identify 5 words, concepts, methods from papers in that unit that you didn't know before, find out what they mean, and add them to the on-line class glossary. You'll not only help yourself, but your classmates as well.

* Create a new class topic: Is there a topic you wish we covered? Do you think you know a better reading? Just want to practice designing a class like this one? Here's your chance! Provide the following:
  1. A title for the topic (1 sentence or less)
  2. Description of the topic. WHat pattern or process of biodiversity would you be covering?
  3. Importance of the topic. Why is this an important topic for graduate students to learn about? How does it differ from the other topics in the unit?
  4. Readings. Suggest 1-2 readings (or videos!). Explain why you picked them. Are they really well written? Do they represent ecosystems or taxa we don't normally read about? Add human diversity to the authors on our reading list?

* Modify an existing class topic: Do you think you know a better reading? Wish we approached learning about a topic differently? Here's your chance!
  1. Which topic are you picking (1 sentence or less)
  2. What would you change about how we learn about it and why? 
    Possibilities:
        * Do you think you know better readings? Tell me which ones and why they are better. 
        * Do you wish we spent class time on the topic differently? A hand-on activity instead of discusion?  Explain how would you design the classroom time and what you think students would get out of the change.
        
* Have an idea for something you could do that isn't on this list that would provide you with an enriching activity? Contact me and we can discuss it!