Hello All, I am getting ready to teach a plant ID class. Typically for this class students collect, press, and mount plants as a group project. I have been toying with the idea of allowing students an option to make an "electronic collection" instead of a real one if they so choose. My idea is that the students would take high-quality digital photographs of each plant, possibly several photos per plant that document various key anatomical features. Then the photos would be assembled into a PowerPoint slide show with all the relevant labeling, etc. The point of this class is to learn to correctly ID plants in the field, not to learn how to professionally press and mount plant specimens. I think the electronic approach would allow students to focus on the ID aspect without having to deal with the cumbersome and daunting process of making a physical collection. I am wondering if anyone out there has ever tried this approach and if so what pitfalls were encountered. I am thinking specifically about problems in verifying plant identity from a photograph and also problems associated with plagiarism.
Any ideas you might have would be welcome! Thanks in advance, Greta
