Preface

After the intense instructional period that resulted from post-secondary institutions across British Columbia (BC) shifting immediately to online delivery in March 2020 for the remainder of the academic semester, many instructors started thinking forward towards the upcoming academic year under similar requirements. Katie Burles and Crystal Huscroft were two such instructors who initially envisioned the idea of sharing ideas, materials, and labs between instructors across BC. Using the BC geography articulation group, Katie organized a series of video meetings of geography instructors across the province starting in early May to discuss ways of delivering geography online and the potential of sharing teaching resources. As these meetings continued, and more instructors were invited into the group, the idea of a collaborative open educational resource lab manual surfaced. After some discussion, Saoirse MacKinnon stepped forward to coordinate this effort. In addition to Saoirse, 13 other authors stepped forward to volunteer their time and produce new labs for online delivery, and the lab manual project began at the end of May. In only 3 months, 22 labs and a tutorial were created, reviewed by additional BC geography instructors, and the first edition of this Pressbook lab manual for use during the 2020/21 academic year was created with the assistance of UBC librarian support. The second edition of this lab manual was released for the start of the 2021/22 academic year and featured substantial structural and editorial revisions, along with two new labs. This lab manual could not have come together without the dedicated support of many individuals from across BC, and it is an excellent example of the collaboration that is possible when committed instructors come together.