VIRTUAL REALITY: REINVIGORATING AND RE-ENERGIZING AN INTRODUCTORY GEOSCIENCE COURSE

COVID-19 had more impact on my approaches to geoscience education than anything else in my career. In March, 2020, we were informed that our students would be going home at the end of the week and instruction would entirely virtual in two weeks, panic was the initial response. Then, how to accomplish this virtually? The solution was GO OUTSIDE!

Those two weeks provided an opportunity to rethink my instructional techniques and how information was presented. Lectures were fairly easy as they just needed voice over. It was a luxury not to have the time constraints of class, allowing addition of short demonstration videos and movie clips to provide support. Readings from popular literature also supplemented lecture material.

Field trips became the most exciting part of this project. Using my hand-held computer, I visited local field trip localities and made videos of the geology therein. These included a local stream where the concepts of stream geomorphology were presented and discharge calculated, a trip to the Maine State Museum, where local geology and post-glacial anthropology were discussed and a visit to Acadia National Park to display all its bedrock and glacial geologic features. Via YouTube, the field trips were assembled into 15-minute segments and uploaded. Links were provided to students via our campus academic network, Moodle. Through this media, I was able to take students to places and show them features beyond the “normal.” Lab exercises were also provided and when completed were submitted electronically. Other exercises were enhanced via Google Earth with topographic and geologic overlays.

The results of this approach were exciting. Students were able to study at their own pace and work on material without the time limits of classroom routine. Weekly meetings with the students were held to discuss geology, quizzes and lab exercises. Many of these new approaches I have since incorporated into my post-COVID classes. Exams and quizzes done virtually easily resolved a lot of anxiety and accommodation issues. Students enjoy the flexibility. And who would have thought that one could become a producer, director and videographer so quickly! It was a significant expenditure of effort, but the course has been re-energized and it provided me with a feeling of rejuvenation.