Geology PhD Candidate
University of Oklahoma
Alicia L. Bonar
Header photo: Early-Mid Permian strata near the Jemez Mountains in northern New Mexico
I have a passion for understanding how people learn, succeed, and what role evolving technology plays in how we will teach future generations in the geosciences
VIRTUAL FIELD EXPERIENCES FOR TEACHING
The role of technology in the classroom is forever evolving. The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically influenced the ways in which we as educators teach, and also how we as life-long learners receive new information. The abrupt change in how we must communicate information in the classroom has pushed teaching institutions to explore virtual experiences and their effectiveness. This recent development has sparked a new interest - encouragement of technology and virtual experiences, not only to address current times, but to provide inclusive pedagogical methods in the geoscience classroom.
Google Earth Field Mapping Project in Cañon City, Colorado
This was a project led by Dr. Shannon Dulin (OU Field Camp Instructor) and Steve Adams (OU PhD Student). In a four-day period, we created a completely virtual field mapping project which was utilized for OU's 2020 Field Camp. Data ranged from basin-scale video overviews to grain-scale photos using a portable microscope. These data were converted into interactive stops in Google Earth, allowing students to navigate the region just as they would in the field.
360 image of a favorite field site and outcrop in Cañon City, Colorado
Virtual Field Trip : Geology of Guadalupe Mountain National Park and surrounding areas
This virtual field trip includes a stratigraphic section description exercise at La Luz Canyon, a complete walk-through of Permian Reef facies up the Permian Reef Trail in Guadalupe Mountain National Park, and many additional mini-lectures exploring and explaining basin-scale stratigraphic geometries, structural deformation associated with Ancestral Rocky Mountain orogenesis, and the infamous late Paleozoic algal mounds of southeastern New Mexico. Led by Dr. Lynn Soreghan, myself and Steve Adams (PhD student) created an online field trip with associated in-class assignments for an undergraduate-level course at the University of Oklahoma in Fall, 2020.
CURRENT COURSES: INSRUCTOR OF RECORD
University of Oklahoma
GEOL2014 - The Earth System (Fall 2021)
I was selected as an interim instructor for The Earth System course in Fall 2021. This course is structured as an integrated overview of earth sciences emphasizing earth materials, the oceans and atmosphere, the solar system, and the evolution of earth's lithosphere and biosphere. The interrelationship among the different earth systems is emphasized and explored through a learning-cycle approach.
COURSES TAUGHT AS A GRADUATE TA
University of Oklahoma
Course Highlight: GEOL 1034 - Native Science and Earth Systems (Summer 2020; Fall 2020; Summer 2021)
I was responsible for converting the lab section of GEOL-1034 into an entirely online lab for both the summer and fall courses (COVID-19 Response). Responsibilities included developing multiple lab exercises compatible with virtual learning for topics ranging from rock and mineral identification, the water cycle, and climate change, as well as building a syllabus and lab schedule, creating and recording lectures, and grading all lab activities, quizzes, and exams.
Other courses taught at the University of Oklahoma:
GEOL 1104 - The Dynamic Earth (Fall 2018; Spring 2019)
GEOL 1114 - Physical Geology for Science and Engineering Majors (Fall 2018; Spring 2019)
GEOL 3123 - Field Methods (Spring 2020)
Photo from New Mexico State University Field Camp summer of 2017. Camping location near Carson, NM.
New Mexico State University
Course Highlight: GEOL 111 - Survey of Geology (Fall 2016, 2017; Spring 2017, 2018)
I was the Lead Graduate TA for the introductory geology courses at NMSU from 2017-2018. Responsibilities included leading weekly meetings to review lab topics, provide and set-up lab materials, and assist GEOL-111 TA's with questions regarding weekly labs. I organized off-campus field trips for introductory courses and was also responsible for collecting and reporting all GEOL-111 lab grades.
Other courses taught at New Mexico State University:
GEOL 495 - Geology Field Camp (Summer 2017)
GEOL 305 - Fossils and Evolution of Life (Spring 2018)
GEOL 420 - Stratigraphy and Sedimentology (Fall 2017)