Hi, everyone. If you’re like me, you are currently thinking about class schedules for next semester I encourage you to consider adding WeDigBio to those schedules on October 20 or 21 (a Thursday or Friday) this year. Last year I reserved a computer lab for my Field Botany class during WeDigBio, and the students transcribed specimen labels at Notes from Nature while working through the exercises at https://www.wedigbio.org/content/educational-exercises https://www.wedigbio.org/content/educational-exercises. It was very popular.

Not offering a plant-focused class? No problem. There are transcription projects focused on other taxa as well at Notes from Nature and the other participating online citizen science platforms. For an overview of last year’s options, visit https://www.wedigbio.org/find-a-project https://www.wedigbio.org/find-a-project. These are expected to expand to include even more diversity in 2016.

If you decide to participate in WeDigBio in this way, be sure to fill out the very short event host survey at https://www.wedigbio.org/content/wedigbio-2016-event-hosts https://www.wedigbio.org/content/wedigbio-2016-event-hosts so that you can receive updates.

And if you create your own WeDigBio-focused exercise, don’t keep it a secret. Share it with the community at https://www.wedigbio.org/ https://www.wedigbio.org/ and http://collectionseducation.org/ http://collectionseducation.org/.

It’s a great opportunity to familiarize your students with biodiversity specimens and specimen data while making a genuine contribution to science. Thanks for considering!

Austin Austin Mast · Professor · Department of Biological Science · 319 Stadium Drive · Florida State University · Tallahassee, FL 32306-4295 · U.S.A. · (850) 645-1500 · amast@bio.fsu.edu