Facilitating access to environmental education information and materials by building on existing Internet sites that provide broad electronic access

NAAEE developed eePRO, an exciting new hub for professional development in environmental education, to allow environmental educators to join dynamic groups focused on themes of interest to the field; stay connected with colleagues through discussions, blogs, opportunities, resource postings, networking, and other online features; and take part in monthly NAAEE webinars on cutting-edge issues in the field and intriguing new topics. eePRO also allows EE professionals to search for highlights and news from NAAEE and the field; workshops, online courses, and other learning opportunities; the latest jobs, grants, and scholarships; research and resources; events, conference, and webinar recordings, and other important portals, such as MEERA (My Environmental Education Research Assistant).

Y1 Update

To build on efforts to provide the field with greater access to EE resources, NAAEE is in the process of surveying EE networks to inform the development of an EE higher education database, which will serve as a tool to help new and experienced practitioners identify programs, instructors, and courses that specialize in EE. Additionally, NAAEE has made significant progress in the development of an online research library where practitioners can search and access a holistic collection of relevant research, and submit their own studies to share with the eePRO community. NAAEE has also installed a translation tool to make the site more accessible to multilingual professionals.

In addition to continuously improving the overall eePRO interface, NAAEE has offered professional development and specialized expertise through the popular monthly webinar series, “Bringing New Ideas and Innovation to the Field of EE." NAAEE continues to extend eePRO's reach through the newsletters, eeNEWS and eeJOBS; emailed digests to members of the eePRO groups; and through NAAEE’s growing social media outreach. 

NAAEE is continuing to assure that educators are using outstanding materials by developing and implementing an online process—rooted in the Guidelines and fully integrated into eePRO—to review materials and programs and showcase those that are most highly rated. By convening experts in materials development and evaluation, NAAEE is exploring ways to structure a review process that is widely accessible, easy to use, and sustainable, and that enables users to quickly identify the most effective resources to meet their goals. This effort includes reviews of quality assurance efforts in related fields and builds on our own past experience with materials review.

NAAEE is continuing to leverage the success of eePRO by expanding the content and services available and growing the number and diversity of users. Plans include exploring new moderated interest groups, offering a monthly webinars series faciliated by exceptional thought leaders, and expanding research briefs in order to increase application of new knowledge.