GEO 303 in the 21st Centuryevolution of a very large introductory geoscience course

Laurie Schuur DuncanUniversity of Texas at Austin, Jackson School of Geosciences

laurieduncan@jsg.utexas.edu

Leon Long, aka Captain Geo, explaining cross-cutting relationships among dikes in the Valley Spring Gneiss at Inks Lake State Park, TX

GEO 303 is a comprehensive survey of geological science in one semester; it includes physical and historical geology.

400+ students per semester learn to: understand Earth systems, processes and materials; challenge pre-conceived notions and make reasoned

judgments of their own; think like geologists.

GEO 303, Introduction to Geologya fine-tuned, well-oiled machine

Course material is integrated between lecture and lab with consistent terminology and up-to-date science.

GEO 303, Introduction to GeologyTeam teaching is the key to success.

Fall 2013 GEO 303 teaching team: Laurie Duncan, Will Betts, Anastasia Piliouras, Megan Ferre, Justin Hiester, Peter Gold, Rich Ketcham, Gail

Collins, Chad Greene, and Anthony Barone

Two professors and 8 graduate TAs co-teach 23 lab sections (~17 students) and two large lecture sections (~200 students)

If I stay there will be trouble…

Many of our current teaching strategies are unsustainable in the 21st century learning environment.

Today’s students are collaborative digital learners.

Even the best traditional teaching is inadequate preparation for the complex challenges our STEM graduates will face.

Our exercises and exams have grown stale.

and if I go it will be double! GEO 303 is unique to UT geosciences, and to Leon Long’s

captivating teaching style and high level of scholarship. If we do not act to preserve the effective pedagogy of the course, we will lose it.

Implementation of new instructional methods always involves growing pains, and sometimes results in complete failure.

Who will do all this work when Dr. Long truly retires? And will we be up to the task? Can our department provide adequate support for this?

Should I stay or should I go? Yes!

Keeping the good stuff, lots of interaction with students geology and theology brown bag high standard of scholarship impeccable course policies and grading scheme. field trips

“I always marveled at the time Leon spent talking to students, until I realized one day, he wasn’t talking to them. He was listening to them.” – Professor Dan Barker, UTDGS

Should I stay or should I go? Yes!

while constantly adapting and improving. Improved communication with students: Canvas LMS Increased lecture participation: iClicker (for now) Modification of lab instruction to focus on collaborative,

active learning, moving toward a “flipped” lab. Improved collaboration among our teaching team, and

adaptability of exams and lab exercises via file sharing. Revision of the text and lab manual: The 16th edition of

GEOLOGY will have a paper and an electronic version. Continued commitment to “teaching teaching.” Freeing GEO 303 instructors from choices A through D.

Away we go! – Leon E. Long

“no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end…”-James Hutton