Chanda Mwale … Over the last few weeks, our Healthy Rivers for All class has been discussing the 5 step process of completing a report card. The class has now come almost full circle, and this week’s lecture was a discussion about life after a report card release.

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Katya Altman … In the previous lectures and blogs we talked about the five-step report card process: Step One - identifying basin values and threats, Step Two - choosing indicators, Step Three - defining thresholds for indicators, Step Four - calculating scores and determining grades, and Step Five - communicating results. How do we accomplish these steps and develop a report card in the end?

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Kennedy Onyango … Last week the Healthy Rivers For All class held its sixth session, during which our discussion centered around sharing the grade. This is the fifth step in the development of a river basin report card, after the threshold and grade have been determined. Every river has a story to tell,and the story depends on how you package it. Quite often scientists concentrate on the collection and analysis of accurate data but forget that this is just one piece of the larger puzzle.

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Irina Ize … This week, Healthy Rivers for All course participants turned our attention to Step 4 in the 5-step report card process, discussing how to calculate scores and determine grades. The goal of this step is to combine all the information provided by very different indicators and “roll it up” into a single grade, which can then be communicated to decision makers and more easily understood by the general public.

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Katya Altman … This week our class welcomed a new participant, Ximena Celis, from WWF - Mexico. She brought a new perspective to our discussion of report card thresholds and shared her environmental literacy presentation. Information about the course and other participants is available here. Ximena identified several values, threats, and other characteristics of the Copalita-Zimatan-Huatulco Basin in Mexico. The UMCES-IAN online course, Healthy Rivers for All, is now in full swing.

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By Jodie Mehrtens … story. Since we first learned to communicate, humans have shared our hopes, dreams, fears, knowledge, experiences, and values through story. We share stories every day, on our radios and televisions, over the Internet, and at the movies. Stories have the power to draw like-minded people together. Take an Avengers movies for example. People with different backgrounds and life experiences come together to share their love of watching men in tights save the world.

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By Nancy Sheehan … UMCES IAN launched a new online course, Healthy Rivers For All. Instructors for this course include Drs. Heath Kelsey, Simon Costanzo, and Bill Dennison.

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