VIRTUALLY THERE: DEVELOPING A GEOLOGICAL VIRTUAL FIELD ENVIRONMENT OF ROCK BRIDGE MEMORIAL STATE PARK, MISSOURI, USA

Field education is an integral component of geology curricula, but opportunities have been limited by inclement weather, inaccessible field sites, and global pandemics. Virtual field environments (VFEs) offer an alternative means for students to digitally engage in field education. At the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Missouri, introductory geology students have been unable to attend a mandatory field trip to the nearby Rock Bridge Memorial State Park (RBMSP) due to frequent cancellations. Herein, we document the development of a VFE using a suite of pre-existing tools to explore the karstic system within RBMSP, which will, in turn, serve as a supplement and/or replacement to the mandatory introductory geology field trip at the University of Missouri.

The foundation of our VFE utilizes two programs: ThingLink (www.ThingLink.com, an online education technologies platform specializing in interactive media) and the e-learning platform Articulate Storyline. Our initial VFE design relied heavily on the ThingLink platform, wherein students could freely navigate between a series of 360° photographs and uncover the geologic history of RBMSP via informational images, embedded web content, and 3D models of common rocks and fossils. However, the assessment capabilities of ThingLink were limited. By utilizing Articulate Storyline, we created a semi-open world environment with formative assessments and gamified content directly integrated into the VFE. To supplement the content within Articulate Storyline, we embedded modified versions of the initial ThingLink content, including an option to freely explore RBMSP. Embedding content from ThingLink into Articulate Storyline takes advantage of the capabilities of both platforms, thus forming the basis of our VFE.