From online to outside: An experiment in teaching digital skills at a state park

Description

This panel will directly address the theme or anxiety and security – or lack thereof, in some situations – in the learning process. It covers a course that took students out of the normal, classroom setting, forced them to be responsible and engaging during an online portion and then put them somewhere unfamiliar for a weekend to learn in the field. Students were surveyed post-course to determine if the settings caused anxiety or feelings of mental discomfort – and shared how the experience impacted their learning.

Takeaway

Risk can lead to great rewards when it comes to education. Like other situations in life, a dose of anxiety is not necessarily a bad thing – it means you’re trying something new or outside of your wheelhouse. Students and faculty alike should continue to push themselves out of their comfort zones in order to experiment with the learning process.

Abstract

Which of the following scenarios is less stressful for students and provides the best opportunity for success: online learning or experimental learning? Why not both? This paper and presentation will provide key takeaways from a course taught this semester that put students squarely outside of their comfort zones – in two different ways.

This particular course consisted of two sections – online learning and an overnight, in-person workshop at a state park. The first section consisted of two weeks of online video modules, quizzes and social media interaction in order to learn skills and strategy needed to effectively produce, shoot and edit videos solely using their smart phones. In the course’s second section, students put their skills to the test. They traveled roughly three hours to reach the course site – a remote state park where they would work, eat and sleep for the night. (Many of them had never visited a state park or camped before their weekend in the outdoors.) Each student was given four video assignments in the park and 24 hours to complete them. To add some additional pressure, the student video projects had a specific purpose and theme. They would be used as part of a marketing campaign for a state agency.

After the course was completed, students were surveyed on several different topics related to anxiety and security. Did they stress during the online portion of the class? Did they stress while completing their projects in the park? Did the use of technology freak them out? Did they enjoy taking a course outside of the normal, classroom setting? Did being in the park and camping cause problems? What was it like working outside in groups? Did producing the videos for a state agency add to any potential anxiety?

Comfort zones don’t just exist for students, however. Educators also fall into the trap of teaching solely in ways that are comfortable and risk averse. This presentation will also address the anxiety and lack of security from a professor’s point of view in terms of conducting an experimental course such as this. How was learning conducted in both the online and in-person settings? How were students prepared? Which strategies had to be adapted on the fly while in the outdoors?

Moving forward, this course and the lessons learned will be used as a model for experimental learning on a national scale within our School. The same model could be applied across different disciplines and virtually any class – it’s about taking students outside and immersing them in a topic.