RMES 515 - Integrated Watershed Management

Integrated Watershed Management Course

Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability

Course Schedule	Start Date	Completion Date
This course offering	January 2011	April 2011

Course Overview

This introductory course to watershed management is intended for professionals and graduate students that are interested in integrated water resource management. It is presented in a format suitable for distributed learning and has four components:

CD-ROM "textbook" which contains the course material in a hypermedia format;
WebCT Vista (active during the time the course is offered) for communications, discussion sessions and assignments;
E-mail site for assignments and personal communications;
Related Internet sites (related web sites will be posted every week).

The course is equivalent to a 3-credit graduate level course and students can register for UBC academic credit as Resource Management and Environmental Studies 515, on a professional development basis, or for credit towards the UBC Watershed Management certificate program.

Course Prerequisites

A Bachelor's degree in earth sciences, engineering (environmental), resource management, or environmental sciences is recommended. Students with other backgrounds such as planning, economics and policy analysis might also find the course of interest but are advised that a large part of the course consists of scientific information and descriptions of quantitative analysis techniques. The course is also intended for professionals with relevant practical experience who are interested in augmenting their knowledge of water resource management. The course is a full credits course (3) and can count towards the Watershed Certificate Program at UBC and towards a graduate degree in Resource Management and Environmental Studies. Sound background knowledge in topics related to land and water resource management is desirable.

Course Requirements and Graded Assignments

This is a distributed learning course and the students are expected to read all the material in the electronic text book (See Lesson Plan). There are two written assignments, required participation in discussions over the internet, and a final examination.

	Grading
Assignment #1 - Term paper	25% of final mark
Assignment #2 - Term paper	25% of final mark
Final Examination	40% of final mark
Participation in the Internet discussions	10% of final mark

Questions will be posted on the bulletin board every month and we expect the students to take an active role and respond to each question on a regular basis (within 2-3 weeks). All responses will be posted on WebCT Vista and all participants can read and respond to the contributions.

All assignments will be marked using the UBC % scale. Dr. Hans Schreier and Dr. Sandra Brown will review and mark the assignments. Final Mark for UBC graduate credit, professional credit or certificate = 3 credits.

Relation to the Watershed Management Certificate Program?

IRES offers a distance learning certificate in Watershed Management, which consists of 5 courses offered in a distance learning mode over the internet. The main required courses are Integrated Watershed Management, Urban Watershed Management, and Agricultural Watershed Management. There are several additional options such as Groundwater Hydrology, and Water and International Development. For more details see: http://www.ires.ubc.ca/academic/certificate/index.html

Those with limited knowledge are encouraged to first take the Integrated Watershed Management course, which is an introduction to the topic. The Urban Watershed course focuses on urban issues and the role of community groups and local government, while the Agricultural Watershed course covers all aspects of water use and pollution in agriculture.

Information access

The classroom is open 24 hours per day but access to the Discussion Board (via WebCT Vista) is restricted. Each professional will receive a Campus Wide Login name to access the discussion board on WebCT Vista to post information and to participate in the discussions. UBC students can use their existing CWL accounts to login. Every week we will post new information on the discussion board and/or the website and you should access the classroom at least once a week to get the full benefit of the course. We will also post selective websites weekly that provide new and exciting information covering general aspects of watershed management and specific information on the topic to be covered that week. Announcements will be posted frequently as well - check that section of WebCT Vista often.

Instructional team

Prof Hans Schreier
Dr Sandra Brown