Conclusion
This case study illustrates how a field course focused on in-person
group projects relating to urban ecology can be transitioned to fully
remote instruction, primarily using pre-existing online participatory
science projects. While this strategy may not serve all field courses in
terms of structure or content, the diversity of readily accessible
participatory science projects is robust and continuing to increase.
Additionally, the limited available evidence suggests that the remote
offering of the course was similar to the traditional in-person offering
in terms of general engagement and student appreciation. Indeed,
students valued interpersonal interaction and outdoor field components
more highly in the remote instructed quarter than under traditional
in-person instruction.
Faculty wishing to replace in-person field activities with pre-existing,
online participatory science projects may wish to consider the following
when selecting and integrating a project. The questions listed below are
drawn from conversations and experiences the instructional team had as
they developed and enacted activities under remote instruction. While
the relevance of each consideration may vary by course content,
structure, and logistics, the instructional team found that considering
these points greatly aided in selecting and integrating participatory
science projects into the course.
In terms of the logistics of the participatory science project:
- What experience, if any, do the students already have with the
project? Students who have experience with the project will likely
need less instructor guidance and support and may be able to serve as
mentors or group project leaders for students with less experience.
- Does the project require particular sampling equipment? If so, this
project may be difficult for students to complete if they do not have
access to the equipment. The instructor may be able to mail students
equipment, depending on the timeline and size of the class.
- Does the project have a complex sampling protocol? If so, it may be
difficult for the students to follow the protocol accurately without
one-on-one, real-time guidance.
- Does the project support data quality via guidance or identification
of organisms, structures, or processes being observed? If so, the
students may find it easier to gather reliable data without
one-on-one, real-time guidance.
- Does the project require a mobile app for data submission? If so,
students without a data plan may have difficulty participating. Can a
computer or paper submission be used instead? If so, this makes the
project more accessible to a wider cohort of students.
- Does the project provide user-friendly access to reported data? If so,
students may be able to complete a data summary activity instead of,
or in addition to, data submission. Additionally, the instructor may
be able to more easily track student participation in the project.
- Does the project provide an opportunity for interaction among
participants? If so, this may support the building of a sense of
community in the course. For example, iNaturalist allows observers to
comment on one another’s observations, and to create projects for
individual taxa, regions, or observers. A course-focused project
allows students to easily see and comment on their colleagues’
observations.
- What is the expected duration of active participation in the project?
Many projects allow for single-observation activity (e.g.,
iNaturalist); however, prolonged or repeated observations may be
expected or required (e.g., NestWatch). Either of these may be
preferred, depending on how the project integrates into the
coursework.
In terms of linking with course content and assignments:
- How does participating in the activity contribute to course learning
goals and course content? What does the instructor expect the students
to gain by participating in the project? Example goals include 1)
learning to identify certain organisms or structures (e.g., clouds),
2) practicing scientific skills such as using sampling equipment or
following a protocol, 3) developing data skills such as assessing data
quality or repeatability, or visualizing data, 4) understanding the
process of science, such as generating and testing a hypothesis using
data from the project, etc.
- How will students engage with the project and the data it generates?
Options include 1) submitting individual data/observations, 2)
summarizing, analyzing, or visualizing other user’s data from the
project (either alone or in groups), 3) comparing data from similar
projects (e.g., particular species observations in iNaturalist versus
eBird), etc
- How will grades be assigned for the activity? How much participation
in the project is expected for full credit? How will the instructor
follow student activity or submissions in the project?
- What difficulties might the students experience in completing the
activity? Are there situations in which a student may not be able to
participate in the project? For this question, it is important for the
instructor to test-run making observations or contributing data to the
project prior to assigning the activity to students.
- How does temporal and spatial variation in observations affect the
outcomes of the activity? In some cases, such variation limits the
ability to ‘use’ the data in a meaningful way (e.g., due to low
replication). In other cases, however, this variation can be useful.
For example, under traditional instruction, making observations in
GLOBE Cloud Observer together on campus would not make sense as all
students would be observing the same clouds; however, spreading this
activity across the geography of the students’ residences and over a
week-long timespan allowed for greater variety in cloud types
observed.
There are many additional resources to assist faculty in strategizing
incorporating participatory science projects into a remotely instructed
course, such as the Citizen Science Association’s
(https://www.citizenscience.org/) series of webinars on participatory
science and higher education, all of which are available on the CSA
YouTube Channel
(https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChTgtIf9BqiEpWiczvH0jbA).
Additionally, several ‘warehouse’ sites exist for accessing a variety of
participatory science projects, which illustrate the diversity of
projects available in terms of content focus and structure of
participation. These include sites such as Zooniverse
(https://www.zooniverse.org/), Sci Starter (https://scistarter.org/),
and CitSci.org (https://citsci.org/). SciStarter also recently released
a field guide to participatory science projects geared towards a variety
of age levels and content fields (Cavalier et al 2020).