Category

APPS FOR UNIVERSITIES

More and more universities have established the use of mobile apps to teach students about the planet’s biodiversity and help with species identification in during field excursions. Sunbird Images has longstanding experience with working together with universities. Especially biology and classes in environmental sciences have made use of Sunbird’s apps. Bird Song Id USA, Tree Id USA, Bird Id USA and Wildflower Id USA have been repeatedly used in the university of PRATT in Brooklyn, New Yor, NY. Many European apps such as Tree Id and bird Song Id have helped students on field excursions to pass species Id exams in various universities in the UK and Switzerland.
Sunbird Images also offers customized solutions for the use in universities. The range starts from simple learning apps for specific topics or classes to complex solutions for planning and coordinating scientific project teams, including support for data analysis. A tailormade app is in the making including a learning quiz for students, coordinating the planning of research projects in biodiversity hotspots carried out by the universities of UNELLEZ  and Valencia in Venezuela.

universities

LECTURES & CLASSES

During a DAAD guest lectureship, Georg and Peter visited different institutes of the UNELLEZ in San Carlos and the University of Valencia in Venezuela. They also participated in courses as guests and helped with the planning of classes and projects. Since 2003 Georg and Peter worked together with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama on studies on pollination ecology of birds and bees in the lowland rainforests. In Venezuela they conducted several expeditions to evaluate the potential for field courses and scientific work. Pollination biology is of particular importance for the understanding and conservation of tropical ecosystems and for the enhancement of tropical habitats. Accordingly, local education and research is of great importance, and thus appropriate concepts for teaching and research projects on this topic are paramount. A special challenge of this South American country are the extremely different habitats ranging from the treeless páramo, the elfin forest and mountain cloud forest to the lowland rainforest and finally to the Caribbean coast. 

Sunbird Apps

Scientific Field Guide with database

The participating institutes in San Carlos and Valencia are in need of a versatile digital system to assist in the planning, execution, and evaluation of scientific field studies as well as student courses. This system is to be embedded in cross-regional research projects and enable a standardized collection and evaluation of data. At the same time, it should enable grading and the obligatory tests for completing student courses. For this purpose, Sunbird Images is developing an app with database integration that masters all challenges laid out above. 

Futures

Core functions of the app will be: 

  • Identification keys for different pollinator groups like beetles, butterflies, euglossine bees, birds, and bats with detailed species accounts for each animal and the plants that depend on them
     
  • Identification key for plants with detailed species accounts including information on specific UVpatterns
     
  • Map function for planning research, with the possibility to enter and edit transects and study sites
     
  • Mapping function to enter sightings, also as a combination of pollinator and plant
     
  • Form for recording scientific observations in the field. The form will allow to select predefined entries and allow free text entries also 

 

  • Database connection for a central evaluation of the respective observations and results
     
  • Learning quiz for students, with editable content by the instructors
     
  • Examination function, where students have an individual login for performance review and grading. Students can also use this function to take a final exam for the course. The contents and course objectives are determined and edited by the course instructors

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