PATHWAYS TO CAREERS IN THE EARTH SCIENCES: WEB-BASED ACADEMIC ROADMAPS

The growth of undergraduate science programs is hampered by several factors: recognition, recruitment, and retention. For the geosciences these issues are especially acute, as geology is underrepresented in K-12 curricula, and consequently potential majors have scant knowledge of academic requirements or career trajectories and opportunities. We have addressed these concerns by developing four dynamic, web-based academic roadmaps for current and prospective students, their families, and others who are contemplating careers in the environmental and life sciences. The goals of these visually attractive “educational pathways” are to not only improve student recruitment and retention, but to empower student learning by creating better communication and advising tools that can render the higher education enterprise transparent for learners and their families. Here we focus on our academic roadmap for the geosciences at the University of Rhode Island, which illustrates educational pathways along the academic and early-career continuum for current and potential (i.e., high school) students who are considering the earth sciences.

In essence, the Geosciences Academic Roadmap is a “one-stop'” portal to the discipline. It includes user-friendly information about our curriculum, outcomes (which at URI are tightly linked to performance in courses and the major), extracurricular activities (e.g., field camp, internships), careers, and training. In the presentation of this material extensive use is made of streaming video, interviews with students and earth scientists, and links to other relevant sites. Although this is a “work-in-progress”, evaluation of all four sites, by high school through graduate students, has been strongly positive. Our presentation will include a demonstration of the Academic Roadmap, and a template that can be used to easily design websites for other disciplines.