Abstract

Field experiences are an integral and attractive part of an education in the geosciences, and considered formative by many students. However, at many institutions class sizes, transportation, and other barriers make field trips difficult to include in geoscience classes, particularly in lower-division coursework. We will demonstrate using the free "Flyover Country" app to design self-guided field trips that students can take on their own schedules, while still having expert knowledge in their pockets (or wherever they keep their phones). Participants will learn how to download and use the app, input their own field trip information, and understand the benefits and drawbacks of use in different classroom settings.

Context

The app is used to allow flexibility in attending field trips, giving students more opportunities and guidance to see field areas on their own. While it is useful to any student, we target discussion around increasing accessibility of field experience to students with family obligations, heavy work schedules and other barriers to attending out-of-classroom experiences.

Why It Works

Because it allows expert guidance in asynchronous field explorations, it has the potential to increase the number of students who can benefit from field explorations outside the classroom. This is of particular important to institutions with high populations of non-traditional and economically disadvantaged students who have a hard time attending evening or weekend field trips.