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.