Great post, and how timely, Curtis, since I was privileged to participate as a (really old) guest just last night at your nocturnal insect survey in Austin, Texas. I enjoyed seeing the students’ enthusiasm as they collected observations, as well as meeting some of the faculty that showed up. The engagement was excellent. One student in particular seemed quite adept at finding different moths and then putting other people on them. The Red-tailed Specter (Euerythra phasma) she found thrilled everyone!
Kudos to you for your efforts to instill future involvement with iNat.
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I made my iNat account in 2013 but found it too clunky and slow to use, especially on my crummy internet connection, and never did anything with it. It was only when my mycology prof in 2017 had us use it for her class that I remembered it existed, and found it had become far more user-friendly in the intervening time. It was a very small class, but I know at least 2 or 3 others who joined because of that and are still very active as well.
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I too use iNaturalist, in my case with my ethnobotany students. I follow all of my students and a few have used the app after the course has concluded. I am a proponent of introducing students to appropriate apps relevant to a field and learning to use their mobile device as a tool to engage with material in a course. I use free apps that students can continue to use long after the course is over.
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I joined iNat for a school project in 2020 and I’m still here! I’m pretty sure I was the only person in the class who even did the project, though.
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Do you think anyone from the next batch in 2021 is still with us?
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Sometimes, I will check something out and make an account (iNat, Geocaching), but not really use it much until a few years later.
I wonder if some of those students that seem to have fallen away, may get back into it later, as I did?
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Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it and that it brought you a moment of joy on the train. :)
I don’t think the teacher bothered to do it again, since it was such a flop the first time. I’m not sure he even has an account himself.
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Was this during the first part of the pandemic? Do you have any suggestions based on this experience on what NOT to do, other than maybe don’t initiate teaching with iNat during a pandemic?
I’m not sure if I understand your question. Do you mean with regards to iNatting during the pandemic, or were you referring to teaching with iNat?
Me: Did the teacher start the project during the pandemic? I’ve noticed that a lot of teachers turned to iNat during the pandemic because it could be done remotely, provided a built in way for students to “turn in” work (i.e. upload observations) and offered pedagogical and content rigor. You indicated the project was a flop. What specifically, in your opinion, made the project fail? Was it that the teacher didn’t check the work, couldn’t provide support, didn’t explain it well?
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Yes. I think he just saw it as an idea and posted the assignment without really thinking it through.
I think the main problem was that no one really saw a reason to try. The teacher was (and is) quite lax about expecting assignments to be completed.
Since I just realized I still have access to the class, this is what the assignment said:
This is a great Citizen Science opportunity happening this weekend at Fort Worden. You have to register by tomorrow to participate, though! I’ve send the info via gmail, but here’s the contact info. Register here: https://forms.gle/JwYeJ67dN3rHCRDm7. Before May 9th, sign up for a free iNaturalist account on their website (https://www.inaturalist.org) A guide for getting started with iNaturalist is available at https://www.inaturalist.org/pages/getting+started. If you do participate, I’d like you to also post your data in Google Classroom.
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It’s interesting so many people ask students to participate when they themselves are new to the site and still can’t provide proper training. Especially with some bioblitzes, little good comes out of it.
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Thanks for your reflection. I’m glad that you tried and stuck. It was worth the assignment just for that.
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I wonder how this would compare with the same kind of data for K-12 students?
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I was introduced to it through a college class and still use it religiously. Your post made me check in on my old semester project that was created for the class. Of the 28 of us only three others besides myself are still regularly posting. However, there was another that even though they haven’t posted recently was active this month according to their profile.
It’s definitely something that I would love to see more data for.
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Stay with us - we want the good ones here!!
Don’t worry it’s definitely an addiction, that I couldn’t stop even if I wanted to!
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And an ID addict like me!
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