This editorial is written by Natasha Dowey, the creator of the Geoscience for the Future website. Writing this was a nice change from the pile of essay marking she has recently been buried under! If you have any comments, please feel free to tweet her @DrNatashaDowey or email her on N.J.Dowey@hull.ac.uk
Geoscience degrees are very hands on, involving trips to far flung locations to scramble about on rocks, and plenty of time in laboratories looking at rocks and minerals through microscopes. But right now, the Covid-19 crisis has meant that many Geology departments have shifted to online teaching. Lecturers who may never before have taken part in distance learning are now creating virtual fieldtrips and using a range of virtual resources to replace laboratory practicals, in challenging circumstances.
Some lecturers at universities that specialise in distance learning have been doing this for a long time. In our first guest blog this week Prof. Charlie Bristow from Birkbeck, University College London, gives a great explanation of how virtual resources can be used to provide some of the experiences typically gained through fieldwork.
There are also a range of virtual resources already out there; some geoscientists have for years been working on virtual geoscience projects that are now great teaching resources. In our second guest blog this week, Prof. John Howell tells us about virtual outcrop models and their importance.
To tie in with these two blogs, we have added a new Virtual Resources page to our site. Some of these allow for traditional ‘observe, record, interpret’ teaching, whereas others, such as the awesome Virtual Microscope, provide the answer up front, allowing us to explore more modern ‘flipped teaching’ practices.
Accessibility in Geoscience
The increased use of virtual learning provides an opportunity to bring the issue of accessibility in geoscience to front and centre. There has been a lot of debate about the future of Geoscience recently. Could it be that residential fieldtrips are a turn-off to prospective students? Not just to a student with a disability, but perhaps also to students with caring responsibilities, or with employment alongside their studies? Students studying geoscience have often told me that fieldtrips are the most valued part of their degree, and “where do you go on fieldtrips?” is a common question at open days. There is no question that the field skills gained are highly valued by some employers, and trips also provide opportunities for students to gain social skills, confidence and resilience. But are there ways we can be more inclusive to a wider group of potential students?
Jazmin Scarlett is a volcanologist at Newcastle University who suffers from chronic pain and fatigue. Of her field training, she explains “I do feel like I lagged behind others…which was accommodated by either friends or a member of staff. I did struggle, but still did the evening group/individual work as I didn’t want to be left out or letting down the group. But it did mean as soon as the work was done, I’d disappear and go to sleep, and not do the whole nightly socialising aspect of the trips.” Her view is that we need to make sure there are virtual/alternative assessments available, adding “I think for those with conditions worse than mine, just make sure they do feel included and don’t miss out”.
It is not easy to make traditional fieldtrips accessible to all. Dr. Mike Widdowson, a lecturer who spent 18 years at the Open University and has since been at Hull for 6 years, has experience of understanding these challenges; “When I worked with the OU 15 years ago, we took people in wheelchairs into the field. We chose our fieldtrips carefully to ensure accessibility and provided alternative locations for wheelchair users where necessary. We spent time considering whether the alternatives were of equal scientific complexity and value. Hardly any other institutions were doing this. But it took a lot of effort, with a team of people working on these trips. Eventually, the trips were stopped due to the expense involved. The truth is, it is very difficult to tell a clear geological narrative in the field in locations that are accessible to all.”
Virtual fieldtrips provide useful alternatives to fieldwork, allowing students to observe and interpret using online resources from their own homes. For sure, it is a different experience- but it is important to recognise that although fieldwork is an important part of geology, it is not essential to all careers in geoscience. Dr Widdowson, like many, is a strong believer in field skills training, but says “we need to acknowledge the granularity of our subject- there are many subdisciplines that people of all abilities can achieve highly in”.
It seems clear that we need to find a middle ground, where we become more accessible, whilst also retaining field training for those able and keen to participate in it. This could form part of a process of evaluating how we ensure students gain the diverse skills and competencies they need to enter the modern workforce.
In the UK, the Geological Society of London is the professional body that decides what boxes need to be ticked for a geology degree programme to become accredited. Dr Rebecca Williams, a senior lecturer at the University of Hull and Associate Dean of Student Experience, believes that accreditation of geology programmes should be progressively re-evaluated, explaining “I think accreditation should allow students to demonstrate they are competent in a geological skill. So if, for example, they are able to produce a geological map from combining remote sensing and borehole data during a desk-based study, reconstruct the geology in 3D and produce a geological history, they are able to demonstrate the same geological thinking as someone who has spent 28 days in the field. Degree programmes should be able to offer these options from the outset, as truly equivalent, rather than exceptional alternatives. In this way, we can attract, train and retain a wider diversity of students and ensure our programmes are inclusive”.
The Geological Society is currently in the process of reassessing accreditation of UK geology degrees. The shift to online teaching currently taking place in many universities could be part of this conversation. Perhaps the widening take-up of virtual resources should become part of a longer term effort to improve the inclusivity of our geology programmes, rather than just a temporary response to the current Covid-19 crisis.