I am offering an online training on uploading aquatic macroinvertebrates observations to iNaturalist in April and I am trying to get the word out to as many people as possible. The target audience is formal (classroom teachers) and informal educators (staff at nature centers, watershed groups, natural resource agencies, youth programs, master/volunteer naturalists, Extension, etc).
I have posted the opportunity on:
- City Nature Challenge Events
- NAAEE eepro
- SciStarter event page
- ANROSP list serve
- the Association for the Advancement of Participatory Science education list serve
- my state’s science teacher list serve
- my state’s volunteer naturalist event calendar
- a couple of list serve for professional networks
- the related iNat project page
Where do you get your info about opportunities like these? Any place else I should post it?
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PD = professional development?
Yes, thank you I will correct this.
My area has a Wildflower Society, a state Natural Heritage Society, a Native Plant Society. They all sometimes host fun educational events and have members who enjoy things like this. There are also groups like the Sierra Club, etc.
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If there are relevant groups on Facebook - that reaches out to a broader audience. I see familiar faces from spider and insect IDs doing good work there too.
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You might consider forwarding this offer of online training to the many state Master Naturalist programs - they often maintain and send out notifications about such training opportunities. This would probably mean looking up each such state program and sending them an email ;) One specific organization you might contact is “Bugs Below Zero” (https://www.bugsbelowzero.com/). Thank-you for offering this training!
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Like Diana said, Facebook has the biggest reach, with (theoretically) 3 billion users.
It depends how much noise you’re willing to cope with, relative to signal.
Social media platforms = more noise (more users who are NOT formal educators or informal educators), but also greater numbers of signal (your target audience).
Let’s say that for every 100 people you reach, 1 person is your target audience. Are you willing to basically take on the full-time job of digital community management, in order to increase your reach? That’s what it takes.
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You could look up the largest school districts in your state and find out who is in charge of PD for those schools and send a note directly to those administrators. My school has a Dean of Faculty who regularly lists PD offerings for teachers, but we’re private, so I don’t know specifically who would be the go-to in a public system.
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There is a Facebook group called Scholarships, Grants, Summer Institutes and Opportunities for Teachers (https://www.facebook.com/groups/378736165542327/) which has been an outstanding source for information regarding various opportunities.
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Would LinkedIn be a viable source? Or is that focused just on networking?
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