Introduction
Fieldwork and field activities are an important component of courses in
a variety of fields, including ecology and environmental science.
Formally, ‘fieldwork’ can be defined as “any component of the
curriculum that involves leaving the classroom and learning through
first-hand experience” (Boyle et al 2007) including formal structured
research, interpretive hikes, or any other outdoor observation,
experience, or activity. In ecology and environmental science, fieldwork
components in courses can benefit students through development of
technical and transferable skills (Peasland et al 2019), increased
confidence and motivation to learn (Boyle et al 2007), and increased
favorable attitudes towards environmental protection (Fernández Manzanal
et al 1999). Additionally, skills relating to natural history and
naturalism have been specifically identified as lacking in undergraduate
education and in formal training of ecology and environmental science
professionals (Barrows et al 2016).
In the spring of 2020, when shelter-in-place guidelines were enacted in
response to the COVID-19 pandemic, courses with fieldwork and
field-based activities were faced with a conundrum: how to incorporate
the educational and experiential value of fieldwork components into
remote online instruction. This case study follows the transition from
in-person (‘traditional’) to remote instruction of a UC California
Naturalist (CalNat) certification course, Wild Davis, offered at the
University of California, Davis (UC Davis). Since its inception in 2012,
CalNat has offered certification courses through 56 partner
organizations operating in 51 of California’s 58 counties (Fig
1 ). CalNat courses have certified over 3,700 naturalists who have
logged over 168,000 hours of volunteer service, contributing over $5
million worth of environmental stewardship to the state of California
(UCANR 2018). Field activities, such as class field trips and outdoor
lessons, make up a significant component of the naturalist certification
to support CalNat’s mission of building a state-wide community of active
and engaged environmental stewards.
Several CalNat courses were already underway when shelter-in-place
recommendations were enacted in their regions and converted to
online/remote instruction only for the remaining few sessions. Several
others were scheduled to begin after shelter-in-place orders were
enacted and, due to the difficulties in restructuring on short notice,
opted to delay their start date or cancel the course. The Wild Davis
CalNat course was scheduled to begin April 1, 2020; Yolo County and the
UCD campus released shelter-in-place directives on March 18, 2020.
Delaying the Wild Davis start date was not possible, given that the
course is tied to the UCD academic calendar. Additionally, cancelling
the course could have had negative ramifications for student credit
hours in terms of full-time student status, financial aid, and spring
graduation for seniors. Consequently, the authors of this paper, who
represent the Wild Davis instructors, the Central Valley CalNat
Community Education Specialist, and the CalNat Director, opted to
restructure the course components to meet both the instructional
expectations of the UCD campus and the core certification requirements
of the CalNat program via remote instruction. This paper outlines the
components of traditional instruction in this course, the process by
which field-based components were transitioned to remote instruction
(primarily relying on pre-existing publicly available participatory
science projects), and offers guidance for faculty facing similar
decisions in ecology and environmental science field courses.
This paper will use the term ‘participatory science’ to refer to
publicly available programs and platforms through which amateur and
non-professional scientists engage in scientific research through
question development, study design, data collection and analysis, etc.
While terms such as ‘citizen science’ are often used to describe these
programs, the political connotations suggested by the word ‘citizen’ are
at odds with the open and collaborative nature of these programs and
have inspired careful consideration of the terminology (Eitzel et al
2017). While various terms (e.g., ‘community science’) reflect the
variety in training, purpose, geographic scope, and number of
participants that these projects employ, in none of them is U.S.
citizenship necessary or relevant. Consequently, the authors of this
paper follow the CalNat program’s commitment (Angulo 2020) to inclusive
language that honors the diversity of California Naturalists and
California residents, and credits their role in public science
initiatives.
Participatory science takes many forms in CalNat courses. Students are
required to log observations on iNaturalist (discussed in the
iNaturalist Project section) and participate in an additional
instructor-chosen participatory science project (discussed in the
Participatory Science Projects section). In addition, many students’
capstone projects focus on or relate to participatory science (discussed
in the Capstone Projects section), and under remote instruction, many
students chose to complete their field activities at their sit spot
(discussed in the Nature Journaling section), which under traditional
instruction is reserved for solo observation activities.