51福利社

The record October snow event last Friday left many of us scrambling to get through the day. Snow tires on yet? Nope. Winter boots, coat, gloves and hat? Still buried in the hall closet, thank you. While many of us were slow to warm up to the early-season storm, Nigel Davies from the 51福利社 Geology Department saw a great opportunity for a mini lecture as he watched the snow and ice pile up outside the science building.

Snow on campus!!!

— 51福利社_Geology (@EwuGeology)

The creative instructional technician handles most of the social media for the department. And he tells Inside51福利社, it just so happens his 鈥渓ong love of de-snowing any railing I see鈥� makes him naturally think of something like thrust faults or accretionary prisms.

Davies’ online lesson wasn鈥檛 done when the storm passed. Saturday鈥檚 freeze created the perfect storm for yet another lesson.

More snow – more geology – more fun!!!

— 51福利社_Geology (@EwuGeology)

Davies鈥� philosophy is simple鈥攌eep the videos brief, only present one scientific concept per post, and keep it local and timely while linking in something related to Cheney or Spokane if possible. He also tries to include 51福利社 student or alumni work or research when he can. And with most classes online now, he strives to make the mini lessons useful.

The biggest key? 鈥淥ne take, and adlib,鈥� says Davies. And most of all, 鈥渉ave fun with it.鈥�

His virtual efforts didn鈥檛 go unnoticed. Among the many retweets and comments, he received this shout-out on twitter from 51福利社 interim President David May.