SELF-GUIDED CLASS FIELD TRIPS USING THE FLYOVER COUNTRY MOBILE APP AS AN AVENUE TO REACH UNDER-REPRESENTED AND NON-TRADITIONAL STUDENTS WITH FIELD EXPERIENCES

Field experiences are an integral and attractive part of an education in the geosciences, and considered formative by many students. However, at many institutions the typical student is juggling work, family care, and other responsibilities and instructors are faced with large class sizes, limited transportation options, and other barriers that make field trips difficult to include in geoscience classes, particularly in lower-division coursework. We will demonstrate using the free, NSF-funded Flyover Country app to design self-guided field trips that students can take on their own schedules, while still having expert knowledge at hand in the form of geo-located points with attached text, figures, and questions embedded in the app. Pilot data from a single introductory geology course showed that students who worked more hours were more likely to choose the self-guided option over a scheduled group field trip and gave positive feedback about the increased flexibility. Self-guided students had similar gains in content knowledge and reported other positive outcomes in the affective domain including feeling more comfortable exploring new locales, enjoying time outdoors, and seeing common things in new ways. Student feedback on use of the app will guide refined offerings and future aims including expanding data collection to more specifically understand the potential for using the app-based field trips to increase participation and inclusion of under-represented and non-traditional students in field-based coursework. Interested parties are invited to join the Flyover Country educators’ group at z.umn.edu/fced.