TURNING CRISIS INTO OPPORTUNITY: INCREASING ACCESSIBILITY OF FIELD-BASED GEOSCIENCE EDUCATION IN RESPONSE TO A GLOBAL PANDEMIC: PART I

Highly valuable field experiences, involving the integration of skills learned across the spectrum of courses in a typical undergraduate geoscience curriculum, is often attained by U.S.-based students in a rigorous, multi-week field mapping course. Unfortunately, while sometimes requisite for admission into graduate programs and some industry positions, field camps can represent an exclusionary barrier for students with physical, economic, and social constraints. The physical demands of a mapping-based field camp are a roadblock to students with limited mobility due to physical disabilities or health conditions. The price tag of several thousand dollars to attend a field camp is prohibitive to a large proportion of low-income undergraduate students, especially for those who rely on summer jobs. Extended travel to remote locations is often incompatible with the career and family obligations of non-traditional students. We take this moment of a public health crisis to be an opportunity: by developing robust remote learning strategies to cultivate geologic mapping skills, we provide an accessible pathway to the capstone undergraduate experience of our field. A hybrid summer field course, utilizing both online and face-to-face instruction, was developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We illustrate the efficacy of distance learning for developing the desired outcomes of critical thinking and integrative data analysis skills acquired through traditional field camps. Technological advances in freely-accessible high-resolution satellite imagery and 3-D visualization of Google Earth, sub-meter topographic data (LiDAR, UAS), and centimeter-scale outcrop photography (Gigapan) allow students to map, describe, and measure geologic features to levels equitable to those achieved in traditional field settings. Integration of ground-based photography with geospatial platforms permit students to investigate a field site at a rate and perspective not possible from the ground. While virtual field experiences present a different array of challenges than traditional field mapping, their potential for attracting motivated students with diverse backgrounds and perspectives offers an outstanding opportunity to enhance accessibility to traditionally underrepresented groups in the geosciences.