Paper No. 154-2
Presentation Time: 1:45 PM
HOW WELL DID IT WORK? THE TRANSITION TO ONLINE FIELD CAMPS IN THE SUMMER OF COVID-19
RADEMACHER, Laura K., Geological and Environmental Science, University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA 95211, RYKER, Katherine, School of the Earth, Ocean and Environment, University of South Carolina, 701 Sumter Street, EWS 617, Columbia, SC 29208, SHIPLEY, Thomas, Department of Psychology, Temple University, 1701 North 13th Street, 6th Floor Weiss Hall, Philadelphia, PA 19122, BURMEISTER, Kurtis C., Deptartment of Geology, California State University, Sacramento, 6000 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95819, ATCHISON, Christopher L., School of Education and Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, 511E TDC, Cincinnati, OH 45221, TIKOFF, Basil, Department of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706 and EGGER, Anne E., Geological Sciences and Science Education, Central Washington University, 400 E. University Way, Ellensburg, WA 98926-7418
The COVID-19 pandemic presented many curricular challenges to Geoscience programs, including how to meet student needs for summer field-based capstone experiences when field work was not possible. Converting these field-based capstone experiences to safe and accessible online courses is a massive undertaking, but support from the NSF RAPID program allowed the community to come together and collaborate on the development of programs to meet student needs, which facilitated a distribution of workload across instructors and led to the development of a community agreement of the skills, competencies, and experiences that would meet the needs of graduating students, prospective employers, and graduate programs. One of the first steps of this effort was to convene a group of approximately 30 field camp instructors for a one-day online workshop with the goal of developing a community consensus on program learning outcomes that satisfy both field-based and online capstone experiences. This group developed a set of nine learning outcomes appropriate for both field-based and non-field-based geoscience capstone programs. Instructors and activity developers then used these learning outcomes to guide the creation of learning materials, and we developed an assessment plan to measure student gains.
A survey was developed using these nine learning outcomes, along with four attitudinal outcomes identified by workshop participants, as the theme. Students were provided with five to 16 statements tied to each outcome and asked to respond using a Likert scale from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree. A recruitment e-mail was sent to instructors asking them to distribute this survey to students before and after their field camp. To date, more than 150 responses have been recorded. This summer’s field camp experience had a positive influence on student perceptions of their field camp skills and attitudes, helped students visualize a career as a geoscientist, and identify as more of a geoscience professional. It does not appear to have shifted their plans for education beyond the undergrad degree. It remains to be seen how these results compare to traditional field camp experiences. Preliminary results from a parallel instructor survey about their experiences, materials used, and perceptions of student learning will also be shared.
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