BUILDING COMMUNITY IN A HYBRID FIELD COURSE THROUGH ACCESSIBILITY, COLLABORATION AND MENTORING: INSIGHTS FROM THE PILOT YEARS OF THE GEOSPACE PROJECT

Creating a sense of community is an important aspect of any field course, and this is especially true of field courses with students from traditionally underserved or marginalized identities. The GeoSPACE (GeoScientists Promoting Accessible Collaborative Education) Project is an NSF funded (Award #2023124) is an accessible, inclusive planetary geology themed field course with in-person and virtual cohorts who work closely together in a synchronous format. This hybrid format creates new opportunities and new challenges in building a cohesive, inclusive community between students online and students in the field. Qualitative analysis of the first two years of the program reveals the challenges, successes and rewards of intentional community building across 3 groups: the virtual cohort, the in-person cohort, and the collective group.

For the collective group, community building starts with pre-course meetings and the creation of a collaborative code of conduct. For the virtual cohort, dedicated staff ensures they always have support for learning activities, even in-person staff are out of reach. To keep connections strong between the two groups, it is vital to have a member of the in-person staff that is responsible for keeping the virtual team connected to the activities in the field. Collaboratively articulating the goals for the day’s activities and making sure each person has a meaningful role related to those goals contributes to engagement and sense of responsibility to those goals.

Accessibility (across many facets from physical access to cost) plays a key role in feelings of inclusion, while mentoring contributed to a sense of belonging within the field course and the discipline more broadly. Online collaboration greatly enhances feelings of community across all groups and creates bonds that extend well beyond the field course. Additionally, creating space for open, honest discussions of ethical, social and cultural issues surrounding field work breaks down barriers to explore subjects not often covered in field courses. These dialogues indicate to students that instructors care about the same issues that they do. Further, when a field course must adapt to unforeseen changes, such as a rapid move to remote learning for everyone (as in the case of GeoSPACE 2023), a strong community makes that transition easier and more likely to succeed.