STUDENT EXPERIENCES AND PERCEPTIONS OF SKILL DEVELOPMENT IN A MULTI-MODAL FIELD COURSE: APPLICATION OF THE COGNITIVE APPRENTICESHIP FRAMEWORK

Beginning in Spring 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced many field courses to pivot to virtual instruction, raising the question: Can virtual field courses be taught effectively? If yes, two relevant characteristics that might be impacted are the connections between students and the ability for instructors to effectively teach geoskills.

To address this concern, a comprehensive case study of a multiple-modality hydrogeology field course was conducted at a large university in the southeastern United States. Students were able to choose one of three modalities: in-person, online, and hybrid. Students who chose in-person attended field camp activities in the field, whereas students who chose online attended the course through Zoom live-streaming from the field; hybrid students experienced both of these modalities in varying proportions. One of the questions this study sought to answer was if a multiple-modality field camp can meet course learning objectives and maintain esprit de corps among all students.

The field camp was analyzed for the sociological connections and effectiveness of communicating methodologies using the Cognitive Apprenticeship Framework (Collins et al., 1989; Akondy and Sahana, 2015). Students completed voluntary surveys at the start of the field camp and upon completion of the course. Ten interviews were conducted with a focus on understanding student experiences across the three different modalities.

Themes of group dynamics and connectedness differ among the three modalities. One of the best examples is in the stronger feelings of camaraderie expressed by the in-person students compared to the on-line group. Hybrid students expressed a shift in group dynamics once they entered the field in-person. In contrast, the effectiveness of the teaching methodology was perceived to be the same when comparing the three modalities; students in all groups felt the field camp prepared them for a career in this field, a central objective of the course. This suggests that students are perceiving achievement in the course learning objectives regardless of modality, which supports further investigation of multiple-modality field camps.