Many undergraduate science courses use citizen science platforms to engage students in collecting data for research programs. Yet, these platforms can be used to provide students other useful skills that will enhance their ability to design and implement research and to communicate with the general public while providing data for research on user experiences. In particular, citizen science is uniquely well suited to teaching students best practices for training participants and for developing an understanding of how to communicate research results. These are skills that are applicable for a wide variety of careers after graduation. We engaged students in evaluating the training given to participants in citizen science programs, collecting data for those programs and then evaluating their experience as users. Students chose programs in their areas of interest which range from health to pollinators and then used a tool designed by the authors to evaluate their programs.
Results/Conclusions
There was surprising variation in the training provided to participants and in the post-participation communication of data and results. Project training methods included written instructions, videos, and online quizzes, yet often provided no formal training. Where we detected the biggest opportunity for improvement was in the interpretation of the data collected by the participant and the overall outcomes of the citizen science data collected to date. A surprising number of programs ended the interaction with the participant with data collection. The platform that hosts the citizen science project determined the ease with which training and communication happened. Engaging students in evaluation of critical parts of research programs provides them with skills not usually found in a typical undergraduate science class while producing data that can be used to improve the field.