BUILDING A HANDS-ON, INTERACTIVE, ASYNCHRONOUS, FULLY ONLINE PHYSICAL GEOLOGY LECTURE + LAB COURSE AT A 2YC: FROM EMERGENCY REMOTE LEARNING ONWARD

“Hands-on” experience with geological materials in introductory physical geology courses is highly valued by faculty and students. Can a fully online lab provide comparable student engagement and learning? I argue that combining lab kits containing geological materials with online resources can be engaging and effective when supported by appropriate online instructional pedagogies. Our approach potentially provides a model for increasing access to students unable to participate in in-class introductory geology lab courses and supports the success of increasing numbers of students desiring an online course modality.

Our approach attempts to minimize monetary costs while maximizing high-quality opportunities for student interaction with basic geological materials (mineral and rock hand samples, maps) and physical models of faults. Cost and logistical constraints led us to include a sub-set of the mineral and rock specimens, and smaller specimens, in the lab kit compared with the larger samples and sets we maintain for in-class labs. Online mineral and rock labs use both lab kit hand samples and online resources we developed specifically to work with the kits. Students are introduced to labs via short video lectures with embedded “concept check” questions. Interactive mineral and rock identification websites allow students to view video and photographs of additional specimens, and input their observations and identifications for feedback. The websites return a simple “correct” or “incorrect” for each observation and identification.

Preliminary analysis of performance on lab quizzes suggests that students using the combination of kits and interactive websites have broadly equivalent mineral and rock identification skills as students in fully face-to-face modalities. Online students using the combination labs also report greater satisfaction and engagement when using both geological materials and online resources than only the online resources. Additionally, online resources and lab kits allowed students in the face-to-face modalities who experienced absences to complete lab activities and be successful in the course.