Enhancing the Undergraduate Research Experience

with Mobile Technologies in Fieldwork Derek France1, Julian Park2, Brian Whalley3, Alice Mauchline2, Victoria Powell1, Katharine Welsh1, Robert Jackson3, & Ruth Healey1

1 University of Chester, 2 University of Reading, 3 University of Sheffield d.france@chester.ac.uk @FIELDWORK_NTF www.enhancingfieldwork.org.uk

Enhancing  Fieldwork  Learning  through  mobile  technology  use  in  fieldwork  

Iceland,  New  York  and  Devon  –    student  research  and  reflecAon  

What  do  the  students  think?  

This project has used mobile technology to assist with fieldwork research across all undergraduate and masters level courses. Initially, during fieldwork, students used iPads to collect photographic and video data, browse the web, enter raw data, collect GPS data, geo-reference photographs and as a tool to aid student reflection on their research through tweets and short reflective videos. In Devon first-year students used iPads in the ways identified on the Figure 1 below. As students progress through their academic programmes they become more aware of the potential of a mobile device to support their learning by utilising apps to a greater extent. See our Project Blog for more details via QR code on the right:

“I am very much a physical learner, so I find writing things is the best way for me, taking notes, but I found the Splice video [on the iPad] was there for reflection. Looking at my notes would not have the same level of reflection”

“Twitter brought a different dimension to fieldwork and the Tweets generated during the day fuelled discussions in the evening. This wouldn’t have happened if we had just written down our thoughts at the time”

“Device access made us feel more connected to each other [students], and we would have been lost without it”

Follow this QR code to see mobile technology use case

studies on the Enhancing Fieldwork Learning Blog.

Students from the Department of Biosciences at the University of Reading used Twitter as a reflective tool as part of their Iceland research and their experiences are presented on the STORIFY QR code link below, which illustrates the students’ use and a link to the television broadcast after they featured on the local news. Similar reflections can be found for Chester’s New York field course.

The “Enhancing Fieldwork Learning” project, funded by the Higher Education Academy, has focused on the future of fieldwork (Welsh and France 2012a, Mauchline et al. 2013) and on the impact on the student learning experience of integrating mobile technologies into their fieldwork research (Welsh and France 2012b, Welsh et al. 2012). During the project, students at the Universities of Chester and Reading have provided constructive feedback on the use of mobile technologies through questionnaires and focus groups. Examples of student feedback are detailed below.

Students reported on the benefits and pitfalls (e.g. 3G connection) as well as intellectual gains (e.g. aided real-time fieldwork research reflections) of using mobile technologies. The devices facilitated engagement and group interactions and helped develop graduate level skills such as rapid information gathering, networking, creativity, digital literacies, reflection and independent learning. Students at all levels have made the connection between mobile technologies and benefits to their learning (see student quotes, right) and have commented that they want to continue using these devices in future field courses.

LocaAon   Mobile  Research  AcAviAes  Iceland, 2013    

iPad2 – Twitter reflection, water sampling, data collection, data presentation, literature sourcing, video creation, cloud storage  

New York 2012 /13   iPad2 – Twitter reflection, photographs, audio recording, data presentation  Devon 2012 /13   iPad2/smartphone – Twitter reflection, geo-referenced photographs, GPS, data presentation,

spreadsheet, questionnaires, decibel recording, literature sourcing, mapping, cloud storage  

Fieldwork Case Study STORIFY Links: Iceland New York

Student data recording in Slapton, Devon UK The breadth of student apps used on fieldwork to support their learning Student creating a reflective Tweet in Iceland

Figure 1. How students are using iPads in the field

References: Mauchline, A., Peacock, J. and Park, J. R. 2013. The future of Bioscience fieldwork in UK Higher Education. Bioscience Education, In Press. Welsh, K. E. and France, D. (2012a). The Future of Higher Education Fieldwork in GEES briefing report 2012. Accessed from The Higher Education Academy website: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/. Welsh, K. E. and France, D. (2012b). Spotlight on….Smartphones and fieldwork, Geography, 97 (1), 47-51. Welsh, K. E., France, D., Whalley, W. B. and Park, J. R. 2012. Geotagging photographs in student fieldwork. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 36(3), 469-480.

Pre-ISSOTL CUR Symposium, Raleigh Convention Center, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, 2nd October 2013