A Cloud-Based Scavenger Hunt: Orienting Undergraduates to ACS National Meetings

American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meetings are valuable for the development of undergraduate researchers but can be overwhelming for first-time attendees. To orient and engage students with the range of offerings at an ACS meeting, we developed a cloud-based scavenger hunt. Using their mobile devices, teams of undergraduates “scavenged” items off a list by uploading “selfies” to designated folders within Google Drive, a cloud-based storage system. Time stamps offered by the cloud afforded real-time evidence of student participation. Items on the scavenger hunt were designed to integrate undergraduates into the meeting, exposing them to distinguished scientists, leading publishers, and instrument manufacturers as well as to networking opportunities. We employed this selfie-based scavenger hunt at three ACS National Meetings (Philadelphia, 2012; Boston, 2015; Philadelphia, 2016). Students reported that the scavenger hunt contributed to their learning. The cloud-based scavenger hunt is versatile and can be easily adapted for other constituencies (e.g., high school or international students) or events (e.g., regional meetings or first-year orientations).