Members of the OCELOTS network convened via video-chat for a "networkshop," featuring Dr. Ann Russel's forthcoming learning module Healing the scars: Tropical rainforest carbon cycling. The meeting was also a chance for Midwest Big Data Hub Learning Innovation Fellow Anneke van Oosterom to share her work developing an interactive systems model for the module, using Insight Maker. These networkshops offer an opportunity for module authors to workshop their works in progress in a friendly collaborative environment. Participants make use of Gala's inline commenting feature to provide asynchronous feedback prior to gathering online.
OCELOTS (i.e., Online Content for Experiential Learning of Tropical Systems) is an international network of tropical ecologists, educators, media specialists, instructional designers and database engineers exploring best practices in research-based modules for teaching tropical biology and conservation.
Ann Russell is a terrestrial ecosystems ecologist at Iowa State University, with special expertise in the biogeochemistry of tropical and managed ecosystems. Her research addresses links between traits of plant species and ecosystem processes, focusing on species and management effects on belowground processes, and subsequent implications for human impacts on soil fertility and carbon sequestration. Her research is designed to enhance our understanding of human impacts on the biosphere, improve biogeochemical models, and help guide selection of species for sustainable management of agroecosystems.
Anneke van Oosterom is a sophomore double majoring in biology and data science at St. Catherine University. She is currently involved with the biology department at St. Kate’s through the Biology Club and as a microbiology lab prep assistant.