After taking over the IWES continuing professional development courses late last year, the AWMC had grand plans for a big face to face event in July 2020.
Unfortunately, the global pandemic forced a few reschedules, resulting in the decision to hold the very first IWES Online event.
IWES Online saw 9 courses run concurrently from 23 November through to 7 December, with 179 participants across the event.
The online event also saw the introduction of a brand-new course - Applied Statistics for Water and Wastewater.
This new course aims teach fundamentals of inferential statistics with applied problems in water, wastewater, environmental monitoring, process monitoring, and public health.
One participant said “Great course, great presenters delivered in a way that marries theory with practice. Now for Advanced Applied Stats!”
While the daily networking has been sorely missed, the participant feedback has been overall very positive.
“I really enjoyed how the coordinators kept us engaged in the conversation using mentimeter and breakout rooms. It was interesting to see the answers of other participants as well. It would have been difficult to capture all of this if we were answering these in a face to face class,” said a Recycled Water Management participant.
Another participant said that they’ve wanted to do an IWES course for a while, but the cost of travel and accommodation had always prevented them, so it was great for them to finally be able to join a course online, and they hope the online courses continue for those unable to travel.
There were many lessons learned over the two weeks of IWES, and not just from participants.
Future online courses will benefit greatly from the events of 2020 for more accessibility, and more frequent course availability.
The next face to face IWES event is scheduled for July 2021 at the Gold Coast.
