SAGE 2YC AGENT OF CHANGE CHANGES DURING MAJOR COVID-19 CHANGE IN INSTRUCTION OF A 2YC INTRODUCTORY GEOSCIENCE COURSE

Following SAGE 2YC Agents of Change and the lessons learned therein; these lessons were then applied in the Spring of 2020 to an Introductory Geosciences course. Due to COVID-19, a 180 degree change in how this class and associated mandatory field trips operated had to be addressed. The goal of this sudden remote distancing Introductory Geology (GS106) course was to 1) honor the “Stay in Place” governmental mandate, 2) get students outside into the “field” and 3) to do a “Geology Field Trip” that was worth 20% of the course requirements.

The barriers to a scientific field trip in the time of COVID, was to make sure the students didn’t have to travel far, but still satisfy the requirements of a field trip in a Geology course, as well as to be able to communicate scientific ideas and concepts to their classmates. To meet these requirements, students were assigned three geologic field topics to gather visual data and post at least one of these in a forum as well as comment on two other field trips posted by their classmates.

This “treasure hunt” of a geologic field trip was by and large a success and there were some lessons to be learned. This presentation will share the weekly field trip assignments as well as explore the "lessons learned" from implementing this curriculum change, including reflections on the initial instructions and the changes to the grading rubric that should be made. These revision and adjustments will be implemented during the continued COVID remote instruction in Autumn 2020.