USING INSTAGRAM TO PROMOTE AND ENHANCE EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING IN 2YC GEOLOGY COURSES

Geology is a discipline ideal for experiential learning, which has been historically accomplished through field experiences. Experiential learning can be defined simply as “learning by doing.”. Monroe Community College (MCC), a 2YC in Rochester, NY, has incorporated field experiences into all geology major courses, with an extended field experience in GEO 295: Field Studies in Geology.

During the most recent iteration of GEO 295, Arches, Canyons, and Pinnacles: Geology of the Colorado Plateau (June 2024), students shared their field work on the social media platform Instagram via both formal and informal “mini blog” posts. Formal posts required students to organize their field notes, observations, photographs, and videos collected at a field site into a paragraph describing and analyzing the geology of the field site. Informal posts allowed students to post photographs and videos of those same field sites (with brief descriptions) or any other experience they wanted to share with followers. These followers included current and future MCC students, high school and dual enrollment students, alumni, transfer colleges, families and friends of students, members of the College’s Board of Trustees, faculty, staff, administrators, as well as college offices including Community Relations, Web and Marketing Services, MCC Library, and CSTEP (Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program). The College chose to re-post student posts on their official Facebook and Instagram sites, which resulted in additional followers and increased awareness of the experiential learning opportunities in geology at MCC. Additionally, Tiberius, our college mascot, was included in many posts, as the students embraced him as their cardboard-cut-out field companion!

Given it is too soon to formally assess the academic impacts and benefits of formalizing the use of social media in course curriculum, minimally, in a time of declining enrollment, sunsetting of academic programs, and continued misunderstanding of how geology is a viable career path, educating the College community and public is an obvious benefit to both the Geology Program and the College overall. Moreover, the participating students not only gained invaluable field skills via experiential learning but also written communication skills through their formal Instagram posts, while also having some fun with their informal posts.