Open AccessThanks for inviting me to the party: Virtual poster sessions as a way to connect in a time of disconnection
Author(s) -
Holt Emily A.,
Heim Ashley B.,
Tessens Erin,
Walker Robert
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
ecology and evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.17
H-Index - 63
ISSN - 2045-7758
DOI - 10.1002/ece3.6756
Subject(s) - disconnection , event (particle physics) , isolation (microbiology) , computer science , set (abstract data type) , covid-19 , creativity , dissemination , student engagement , multimedia , world wide web , psychology , medical education , mathematics education , medicine , telecommunications , political science , law , social psychology , physics , microbiology and biotechnology , disease , pathology , quantum mechanics , infectious disease (medical specialty) , biology , programming language
COVID‐19 presented the world with trauma and isolation, but many people, including educators, have offered bright spots of creativity and engagement. As we confronted these issues in our own ecology classroom, we sought solutions to carry‐forward the learning objectives we set for our students in January 2020, yet encourage interaction with the sensitivity that a pandemic requires. In the rapid transition to online course delivery, we opted to retain the original end‐of‐semester poster project in our introductory ecology course. However, we experimented with a new virtual platform where students could disseminate their work and communicate with the community. In this paper, we discuss the Mozilla Hubs virtual reality platform that we used for our event. We also collected qualitative data to share the benefits and challenges of this experience felt by the students, the instructors, and external observers.