Online Course: What is Citizen Science?
The course has been prepared in collaboration with the University College London and funded through a cascade grant. It is aimed at the general public: scientists, librarians, students, pupils, parents and their children, etc.; therefore, it was created in the Slovak language. The course is hosted on the eu.citizen-science platform. It is intended for all people interested in learning more about citizen science and using their experience, activity, creativity, and curiosity to develop science and change policies in Slovakia. At the same time, we are trying to show the citizen science projects in Slovakia in interviews with the citizen science representatives. The interviews are part of the course.
Currently, there are only few citizen science projects taking place in Slovakia. Therefore, we created an introductory online course to help spread the ideas of citizen science and its potential for developing society and raising awareness of best practices within and beyond the scientific community in Slovakia. Furthermore, citizen science projects require the participation of a wide spectrum of participants with various professional and educational profiles. As not everybody has a high level of English proficiency, it is essential to lay the foundations for citizen science in the Slovak language.
In this course, you will learn interesting information about how the public was engaged in scientific research in the past, what new possibilities are offered by the current technical development, or what is necessary to remember when creating your citizen science project. The course is intended to promote the principles of citizen science in Slovakia and make visible the positive examples of projects in our country that involve the public in research.
A training module introduces the concept of citizen science and its advantages for the scientific community and the general public. It simultaneously provides participants with basic terminology and a view of the significance of the connection between the scientific community and active citizens. The module consists of 5 sections focused on specific development stages necessary for building and success of a citizen science project:
- What is citizen science?
- Project’s design
- Collaborations with partners
- Data collection and ethical questions
- Project’s impact
Each section contains a theoretical part and short videos in which the representatives of citizen science projects in Slovakia share their experience. Instructions on registering for the course Let’s Start with Citizen Science are available in pdf.