E-learning Wildlife Conservation Course from WildCRU (University of Oxford, 2019)

(Trainee)

E-learning Wildlife Conservation Course from WildCRU, University of Oxford (Online training, 2018-2019)

e-WCC is an online format of the Postgraduate Diploma in International Wildlife Conservation Practice developed by Dr. Lucy Tallents and Dr. Cedric Tan. This course was first conducted in 2016 and has evolved in terms of the modules taught and teaching methods. The target audience for this course is conservation biologists from Asia who are in the early or mid-career stages. The course ran from October 22, 2018, to January 28, 2019, with an estimated study time of 4 hours per week.

The course content is divided into three skill groups:

Research skills
Analytical skills
Communication skills

The research skills group consists of two modules:

Conservation Research: The Scientific Process and
Survey and Experimental Design.

The analytical skills group consists of five modules:

Statistical analysis using R
Spatial analysis using QGIS
Occupancy (habitat use)
Population viability analysis (PVA)
Capture-mark-recapture (CMR) for density analysis

Participants were required to choose two modules from Occupancy, PVA, and CMR. I chose Occupancy and CMR.

The communication skills group consists of three modules:

Presentation skills
Creating videos
Creating games

Similarly, participants had to choose one module between creating videos and creating games. I chose the module on creating games.

This training provided me with a solid foundation of knowledge, especially since I was new to the field of wildlife conservation. The knowledge gained from this course has been highly beneficial and has enhanced and accelerated my career as a data analyst for wildlife conservation.