Hi all! This is my first time posting a topic on this forum, so please bear with me! :)
I’m an educator at a zoo, and we are running a program geared towards adults (many of who might be retirees) about varying conservation topics. I will be teaching an hour long class about community science, and would like to introduce them to iNat. However, I don’t want to be standing in front of a PowerPoint presentation the whole time (or any longer than ten minutes). I was looking for some fun or unique ways to teach them how to use the app (as well as share the awesomeness of it with them, of course). Does anyone have any cool ideas that they have thought of, know already, or have tried? I figure I can at least bring everyone outside into our park to use the app, but maybe if there is a 20 minute game or activity that would be good and fun for adults, I’d like to include that.
I agree that getting people using the app after a brief intro is a good route. I have seen people doing some basic scavenger hunt type activities (observe one plant, fungus, insect, etc.). If you are having new users make observations in a zoo, be sure to review captive/wild observations and instruct users on how to mark any observations of cultivated plants/zoo animals as captive.
I like that idea! I was also considering something like a bingo set-up with each square being common organisms around here. Definitely going to give the captive/cultivated spiel - I’ve witnessed some observations on our grounds of our animals (and plants) instead of our wild visitors, so hopefully we won’t have more added to that mix :)
Could also try making teams - birds, insects, reptiles, flowering plants, NOT flowering plants, and the little stuff lichen / moss. I imagine if your retirees are coming to a talk at the zoo, some at least will come with skills and interests - and only need the practical How do I, and what about …
Then set them to find some common sp, some that require a bit more effort, and see if you can spot the elusive …
The bingo card is a really fun idea but some people take a LOOONG time to find their observation so I don’t think you could get that done in an hour. But you could probably get 3 observations (maybe give a choice of “3 different” (bird, plant, bug) versus “3 same”). If you’ll have time to get the group back together, I’d recommend making the session a project ahead of time, then you can show them how to join the project and there are everybody’s observations!
About flowering plants, a general remark on iNat is “please, don’t take only photos of flowers”, take also a [closeup] photo showing an entire leaf (including the petiole base). This advice could be a starting point for showing how to put several photos into a single observation (a common issue for beginners). Show different details of the same individual, even if you don’t know what is the most important to show.
If you know plant species in the park, with similar flowers but different leaves/fruits (like genus Senna), or similar leaves but different flowers/fruits (like Paulownia tomentosa and Catalpa speciosa), making observations that can be identified at rank species could be a challenge.
Will they have the app already installed? My experience with adults downloading the app during a presentation is that there are varying tech abilities. Common friction points are confirming the account email, ensuring location is turned on for the app, and working with a wide variety of phone and platform builds.
I would start first with downloading the app before you do any sort of presentation, even as people are coming in. Be prepared to spend about 10 minutes getting everyone squared away. Have them write their user names on flip chart paper or a board.
Once everyone has the app installed, I would first do a short overview of iNat and the data (10 minutes). If you wanted to add some interactivity, you can make iNat or iNot (make a copy in edit view to tailor to your place) a mentimeter activity.
Then I would tell them about Seek b/c often retirees are looking for things to do with grandchildren.
Then review tips and tricks for good iNat photography and let them loose. Meanwhile you or some other staff member quick cobble together a project filtered by date and user names. Have them come back at about 10 minutes to the end of the program and show them the project.
I’ve found that adults usually don’t need more to be engaged. There’s a lot going on with just figuring out the app, finding things to take pictures of, adding an ID and all the things. Creating an additional challenge in my opinion is an advanced beginner activity.
This is a good point I forgot about. I have had good luck asking people to download the app ahead of time. They can save data charges, it saves time, and I’ve even seen big sessions where the wifi at a venue slows because there are so many people trying to download the app at once. When people first come in, have a slide up asking them to double check that they have the app (of course some won’t), and they can always help a neighbor if they’re having trouble and meet someone.
I always liked the fact results are Google searchable, this resulted in my profile attached to, a yellow bellied sapsucker near me for a while. For example one might want be the jackrabbit or crow - near me. Cheers