Background
Teaching ecology : Ecology class is a faculty favorite for several
reasons. For those of us with backgrounds in conservation biology,
biodiversity, and evolution, teaching ecology is like spending time with
a dear friend. We get to revisit the ideas and concepts that made us
passionate about biology in the first place and our excitement is vivid,
tangible, and uncontainable. Our love for the subject bubbles over when
we lecture, when we explain a lab procedure, or when we get behind the
wheel of our 15-passenger vans full of eager students. Ecology class
requires us to take ourselves a little less seriously. We kneel in the
dirt, sweat while climbing the trail, and get mud under our fingernails
while showing our students the interconnected beauty of the world.
Ecology class is a great equalizer. Each person in the room, student and
faculty alike, breathe the same air and are exposed to the same
environmental factors, reminding us that we’re all in this together. Our
differences are less notable when we’re crouching by the same stream or
posing for a selfie together in front of a waterfall. Ecology class
welcomes innovation and ambiguity. Students create novel experiments
knowing that they are in control of the research and interpretation.
Fundamentally, ecology class highlights two major principles in the
sciences: change is the only constant; and no organism exists in
isolation.
Challenges to moving online : Moving our ecology materials online
left us with a sense of loss. We mourn the cancelled fieldwork, class
trips, and group hikes. We lament the loss of hands-on learning that
ecology class encourages, the walks around campus, the exploration of
what is hidden in plain sight. Specifically, we rue the way remote
learning highlights the inequity in our classrooms. Students who lack
computers are relegated to working from smart phones or ancient tablets.
Those who lack Internet spend hours sitting in front of McDonalds in
order to use the free WIFI the filters into the parking lot. Many of our
students are parents, now suddenly teachers themselves trying to figure
out how to navigate childcare while still submitting assignments on
time. Some are newly unemployed, fighting for income however they can,
working night shifts and overtime, or several jobs at once. Too many of
our students are dealing with several of the above simultaneously. We
miss the classroom chatter, the smiles, the eye contact, the ability to
check in with each person, and the way we used to be able say “I’m here
for you” without having to say anything. While we fight the
unmistakable unfairness of this situation as best we can, we take
comfort in knowing that those two core principles of ecology are still
true. Change is constant, and we will adapt to this new normal. No
organism exists in isolation, even when sheltering in place forces us to
hold class alone in our homes.
Current task : We want to bring connections and interactions to
the forefront, make the material flexible and accessible, and highlight
the joy of fieldwork while knowing that experiencing the outdoors during
a pandemic will look different for each student. Below is an example of
how we’re attempting to keep the joy of discovery and connection of
ecology class alive while moving our instruction online.