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was quite difficult during meal times and day. Every field area that was typically only accommodate the extra vans, but if two
likely during afterhours. mapped in previous years was downsized to or more cohorts were at the same project
If at any time a member of the course a small section of area to map because the area, then there had to be enough room for
were to test positive, it was important to number of field days for each project was each cohort to be properly distanced.
have contingency plans. Should one person decreased by ~20%–50% in order to com- Another key difference was that in a tra-
in the cohort test positive, then the entire plete three projects in less than 15 days. ditional field-camp course, there is likely a
cohort would have to go into quarantine and Project descriptions, assignments, related senior instructor or camp coordinator who
either finish the current field project or materials, and base maps were assembled by would act as the lead instructor to facilitate
begin online instruction modules for the the instructors into large envelopes, and one the outcrop lectures and discussions and/or
14-day period as per South Dakota Dept. of was delivered to the door of each student’s other faculty who would take turns as lead
Health Guidelines. Should an instructor dormitory room to limit face-to-face contact. instructor for different projects based on
become infected and thus unable to effec- Students were divided into three cohorts, their areas of expertise. There may even be
tively teach, then the other instructor of the each containing 10 students, and two faculty cases where in the traditional setting, sev-
cohort would have to oversee the cohort and were assigned to each cohort. On mapping eral instructors may come and go over the
implement the online instruction until the days, students had breakfast from 6:30–7:30 period of six weeks to lead the various proj-
infected instructor could begin working a.m. Each of the field vehicles, vans, was ects. Under the cohort model that we
again. There should be at least two addi- loaded with five students and one instructor, employed, each cohort had two instructors
tional instructors to fill in as replacements who also served as the driver, and departed assigned to the 10 students for the entire
should the need arise. for the field at 8 a.m. Typical drive times to time, and there were no exchanges or visits
the field areas were roughly 40–80 minutes, by other instructors. The instructors for
A Typical Field-Course Day allowing mapping from ~9 a.m.–4:30 p.m. each cohort had to be comfortable and
Many of the field-course days were simi- Students worked in groups of two at each familiar enough with the geology of each of
lar to camps in pre–COVID-19 times, yet field area and were required to wear face the project areas to be able to lead the out-
due to the shortened and condensed nature of masks when less than 6 feet (2 m) apart crop discussions and not rely on the senior
the 15-day field course and increased safety (Fig. 1). At 4:30 p.m., vans departed the field instructor or another instructor for each of
precautions, the schedule and projects neces- area and returned home for dinner at 6 p.m. the different projects.
sarily had to change in specific ways. The Nightly virtual lectures occurred at 7:30 p.m.
field phase of the course featured three map- Logistics pertaining to the specific details of Transportation
ping projects, each in a different location, transportation, accommodations, and dining Each cohort of 10 students and two fac-
which allowed students to map and interpret are described in the following sections. All ulty was assigned two 12-passenger vans
structural domes, igneous intrusive bodies, students brought their own laptops except for transportation to the field, to evenly
and metamorphic basement rock assem- one, and that student was provided a laptop divide the cohort (Fig. 2). Front-to-back
blages to gain confidence in understanding by the university. passenger seating in the four rows of each
complex structures and also appreciate the When selecting project areas, consider- vehicle was 2 – 1 – 1 – 2, and passengers
diverse and challenging geologic history of ation was given to the additional need for were required to wear face coverings at all
the Black Hills. extra parking space given that the field camp times in the vehicle. Prior to entering the
Mapping projects were introduced via was operating with twice as many vans as vehicle, temperature checks were recorded.
Zoom the evening prior to the field mapping usual and there had to be enough room to not Students were required to sit in the same

Figure 1. Students and instructors maintain social distancing and wear masks while mapping geologic structures in the Black Hills
of South Dakota (July 2020).
www.geosociety.org/gsatoday 7