Currently the United States is facing a crisis because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is a very serious public health and economic crisis, it is also accelerating
changes in education. "Officials just announced New Mexico schools will now be
shut down - until Monday May fourth - to remain closed at least through the end of this academic year."
Nearly all US K through 12 schools and universities have
gone to online education through the rest of the academic year in order to
help slow the spread of the coronavirus. UNESCO estimates that one and a half
billion learners are affected by the pandemic and we can only expect this
number to increase. Educators are having to quickly figure out how best to teach
their students remotely. Using the Internet is the only option that
teachers and professors have. Although most instructors are familiar with
online products as teaching aides to the classroom, the abrupt transition to
teaching online may make it difficult for some to find relevant high quality
content to present their students. This unprecedented situation makes it clear
that we're in the midst of a "tectonic shift" in the way that we teach and how
our students learn. Although schools will reopen in the future, the need for more
and higher quality online content is becoming increasingly clear. Some of the
content we need is available and some of its not and we need to recognize this
and figure out what to do about it.
In the Geoscience studios at the
University of Texas at Dallas we are committed to making educational videos
about the geosciences and to teach others how to make their own. One of our
goals is to broaden the conversation about how we can make and share
educational videos about the earth. We don't know what will and won't work for
other disciplines, but many of the principles should be transferable. We
need to reshape the educational culture to make and use educational
videos as well as possible. We don't want to replace face-to-face traditional
teaching. We want to provide scientifically accurate videos about the
earth that can be used to support educators so that they can best be
prepared to teach different groups of students at different times. This
includes rural and disabled students, those that need extra help, for
disadvantaged students, and even for emergencies like the COVID pandemic
where online learning is required. To get to the point where abundant high-quality
videos on a wide range of geoscientific topics are readily available to those
who need it, we need to first address the following questions: First what videos
are currently available online that address geoscience topics? Second, what
topics are not being covered or are not readily available? We have found that
although there may be a lot of content available for introductory level topics,
the specific topics for higher level courses are either not available or not
produced in a high-quality way. Third, how do we prioritize what content needs to
be created? Fourth, how do we design these videos? Should they be long or short?
Presented like a lecture or more conversational? How many animation and
figures should we include? Fifth, how can we find the resources needed to make
these videos? Sixth, how can we best engage the scientific and educational
communities to independently assess the scientific accuracy and classroom
effectiveness of these videos? And finally, how do we inform instructors and
students what is available? Answering these questions will take some time, but
the best time to start is now. GSS has been researching the answers to these
questions and we are making progress with each video that we produce. The
unfortunate situation we're in can be used as a wake-up call that we all need
to figure this out together, using our own specific skills and knowledge to
create a library of educational content accessible to all.