Eumetcal Workshop 2010 Geneva, 29 November -3 December 2010 Education and Training Challenges for the Hydrology and Water Resources Programme Claudio Caponi Water and Climate Department World Meteorological Organization

WMO Strategy on education and training in hydrology and water resources First adopted by the Commission for Hydrology in 2004, then revised in 2008 for the period Endorsed by the Executive Council and Congress Move to demand-driven approach (surveys at the regional level to determine priorities) Support given to course organizers and approval of fellowship requests focused on those priority areas Emphasis on cost effectiveness: short duration, train the trainers, roving seminars Promotion of distance learning activities

WMO Strategy on education and training in hydrology and water resources Support to the establishment of new WMO RTCs with a special focus in hydrology and water resources Promotion among Members of the use of WMO- No.258, Volume II: Hydrology Primary target group  the managerial, professional and technical staff of the NMHSs Secondary target group  those academic and government agencies involved in hydrology and water resources Public awareness or community training activities not included in the strategy

Activities in ETR in HWR – Distance Learning Expert Meeting on CADL (Nanjing, China, Sept. 2006)  April 2007 WMO Bulletin Third Latin-American Post-graduate Course on Operational Hydrology (Jul 2006 – Aug 2007)  DL (actually Blended Learning) First NOAA/COMET/WMO International Basic Hydrologic Sciences Distance Learning Course (Oct to Dec 2009, 54 students from 39 countries, 20 received diploma)

Activities in ETR in HWR – Distance Learning Next NOAA/COMET/WMO DL courses will be regional with support from relevant RTCs: – DL Course on Selected Topics in Hydrological Forecasting for East Europe (January – February 2011) – Basic Hydrologic Sciences DL Course for RA V (2 nd half of 2011) Currently planning a course to train RTCs in planning, preparing and delivering DL courses in Hydrology and Water Resources

The Challenge Demand of tailor-made courses dealt with satisfactorily through roving seminars, ToT, although… First 6 years have shown that only 1 st and sometimes 2 nd priorities can be satisfied Demand of courses of a general nature has to be satisfied through DL Problem: delivery by COMET and WMO not sustainable on a global basis

DL in HWR - The Plan Involve interested RTCs in the delivery of regional DL courses: Advantages: - More student homogeneity - Regional adaptation of course content - Eventually translation in relevant languages - More opportunities to establish links among students and with instructors - Greater number of courses delivered

DL in HWR - The Plan Courses based on suites of existing COMET modules with supportive, instructor-led, DL environment Basis: 2-tier approach – Basic and Advanced Progressive adaptation of COMET modules to an international audience (Basic course ready) Encouragement of inclusion of other resources Minimize need of live events and other bandwidth- intensive resources

The Plan – approximate timetable Mid-2011: Invitation to all existing and potential RTCs to participate in the initiative Nov-Dec 2011: ToT course in Boulder for representatives of 6-10 RTCs (at least one per WMO Region among those institutions committed to delivering DL courses in the near future) Contents: Pre-course DL experience, Online learning pedagogy and instructional technology utilization, Skills in development of online resources (for regional adaptation and inclusion of other resources), DL course management, Curricula development 2012 onwards: delivery of courses by RTCs with limited support from COMET and WMO

DL – some personal remarks Main problem: how to make supervisors understand that a DL course is as serious a commitment as a traditional course Possible solution: send invitations through PRs – but that may cause other problems CLW is willing to support EUMETCAL in setting up a WG on Hydrology

Thank you!