Supporting Faculty during COVID-19: Online Content for Hydrology and Water Resources Education

Dear Colleagues,

As many hydrology courses move online in response to the COVID-19 epidemic we wanted to offer some help.

HydroLearn allows instructors to:

• Find and use online learning modules developed by others

• Adapt and use online modules created by others

• Collaborate with others to develop new online learning modules

HydroLearn is really aimed at being a place where the community can work together in the development of online hydrologic educational content, and given the current situation we would like to offer it, and our support, as you move content online. If you use HydroLearn, you may be able to find content that already suits your needs developed by others. If you post content in HydroLearn, others may be able to benefit from your content.

HydroLearn is built on the well-established open-source EdX platform (used by Harvard and MIT among others) with enhancements to support the development of learning objectives, learning activities, and assessments that are supported by educational research.

Following are some of the modules already available in HydroLearn

• Analysis of Water Stress across the United States

• Development of Design Storms

• Quantifying Runoff Generation

• Physical Hydrology

• Energy-Water Nexus

• Climate Teleconnections

• Flash Flood Protection

• Hydrologic Design of a Storm Detention Basin

• Developing Storm Inflow and Outflow Hydrographs

• Culvert Design using HEC-RAS

Several of these modules have already been curated, tested and used in classrooms, and come with student-oriented learning activities and assessment rubrics. Some of them can be completed within 1-2 weeks, with student effort of a few hours, and some are designed to be completed over a few weeks.

We recognize that these may not meet your immediate needs. But you may be able to get ideas from them and adapt them; all modules are able to be exported and modified. You may also be able to share your content to the benefit of others.

There is also a module “HydroLearn 101” that gives guidance on the use of HydroLearn.

If you would like to use HydroLearn, start by signing up for an account and requesting an instructor account by clicking “Sign Up” in the top right of this page. Feel free to reach out to our team if you have any questions or want additional information:

• Emad Habib emad.habib@louisiana.edu (Project lead)

• Melissa Gallagher melissa.gallagher@maine.edu (Pedagogical design specialist and HydroLearn support)

• Jenny Byrd c00074306@louisiana.edu (graduate student assistant and HydroLearn support)

• David Tarboton david.tarboton@usu.edu (Project co-PI and hydrologic content developer)

• Dan Ames dan.ames@byu.edu (Project co-PI and hydrologic content developer)

I hope we can be of some help during these challenging times.

Emad Habib