USING PORTABLE DOCUMENT CAMERAS AND PORTABLE DIGITAL MICROSCOPES IN BOTH VIRTUAL AND IN-CLASS HISTORICAL GEOLOGY AND PETROLOGY LABS

During the “Great Disruption” of Spring 2020 and the 2020-2021 academic year, we had to conduct labs in virtual, hybrid, and HyFlex learning environments. Initially, some of us used still images of minerals, rocks, sand, and fossils for study materials and for asynchronous online assessments. We were not satisfied with the quality of these images and students often found them challenging to work with because diagnostic features were not always easy to observe. We investigated other ways to present specimens to students during virtual lab sessions. We eventually settled upon using both portable document cameras and portable digital microscopes to demonstrate mineral properties, the compositions and textures of rock specimens and sand samples, and the morphologies of fossil specimens during virtual, hybrid, and HyFlex lab sessions. Portable document cameras and portable digital microscopes can be connected to computers and used as external cameras or with screenshare features within video conferencing software. The primary advantage of using these devices is that specimens can be manipulated live to better show their diagnostic features during both demonstrations and assessments, and in response to students' questions. For example, during a quiz or exam, students could ask to see a streak test or a hardness test on minerals or an acid test on suspected carbonate rocks. Specimens can be rotated to show different perspectives and can be magnified, up to 10x using the portable document camera. Portable digital microscopes can be used to observe sand samples and, at 40x magnification, produce excellent live images of sand grains. Since portable document cameras can be connected to projectors or large-screen televisions during in-class lab sessions, we still use them. The continued use of these technologies and videomicroscopy in our lab classes benefitted from their use in virtual, hybrid, and HyFlex lab sessions during the “Great Disruption”.