Focus on Fieldwork- Opportunities, problems and solutions

Focus on Fieldwork – Student use, uptake &

feedback#MELSIG

Friday, 15 February 2013

Students who use Smart Devices

• Undergraduate and masters students

• UK, Spain, Italy, USA

• Netbooks, Servers, LiveScribe Pens, iPad2s, BYOD

• Camera, audio, video, GPS

• Dropbox, GPS Log, GeoSpike, Skitch, Splice, browsers


Netbooks • "Convenient, small device to travel with"

• "Easy to tabulate results and present findings"

• "Able to backup work"

• Resource gathering for presentations

• Used for Internet, ARCGIS, spreadsheets, PDFs

• Disliked software choice - Open Office

• Disliked sharing the devices


LiveScribe Pens• Easy dictionary tool

• "Made synthesising notes easier"

• "Got key quotes for our presentation by referring back to the pen"

• An inexpensive tool students may decide to purchase for note-taking in lectures or interviews


General iPad2 Use• Easier data collection and instant

data processing

• "Collating, analysing and presenting data was more convenient and appealing"

• "Easier to use than expected"

• "Really useful for annotating maps and photos"

• "Over the week I got used to using the iPad at every chance and it enhanced my learning and skills"


Camera, audio & video

• Photographs used as a reflective tool

• Simple to take photos, record audio and display data

• Easy to add data to a video

• Splice was an easy app to create videos with

• Difficult to access camera with Griffin Survivor cases on


Protecting Technology

• Protected against most accidents

• Weather-protected

• Glare from screen

• Access to camera

• Added weight


Apps

• Dropbox

• GPS Log, GeoSpike & CityMaps2Go

• PollDaddy

• Twitter

• Skitch & Splice

• Pages, numbers & keynotes


Tentative Issues

• Risk - dependent on device ownership, location, activity, personal risk

• Web access

• Unfamiliarity

• Need for a back-up plan - light interference, risk, weather, malfunction

• Overuse of technology

• Distraction


Do students want BYOD?

• Buying their own iPads

• As long as apps were available

• Set up in advance

• Students already using their own devices

• Own device is "easier to handle"

• Limitations/availability of devices

• Distraction - a personalised device

• Risk


The Future...?


Brian [email protected]

Vicky [email protected]

Derek France, Chester UniversityJulian Park, Reading University

Alice Mauchline, Reading UniversityKatharine Welsh, Chester University

Tablets as field note books and Personal Learning Environments

An HEA-Funded project


mailto:[email protected]




Personalised learning?in personal learning spaces?

How do we personalise? and in what learning spaces?


And for learners:

‘Everyone should be able to participate and control their own learning process’

(Knowles, 1987)

How can we use ‘tablet’ computers to help?

We think of pervasive computing as a move from an interaction between an individual and a single device to an abundance of networked mobile and embedded computing devices that individuals and groups use across a variety of tasks and places

(Dryer et al., 1999)


Learning activity

Specific interaction of learners with otherpeople, using specific tools and resources,oriented towards specific outcomes

LearningOutcomesNew Knowledge, skillsand abilities. Evidence of This and/or artefacts of the learning process

LearningEnvironmentTools, resources, artefacts affordances of the physical and virtual environment for learning

OthersOther people involved and the specific role they play in the interactions, e.g. support, mediate,

change, guide

Identities: preferences, needs motivations. Competencies: skills knowledge, abilities

Roles; Approaches and modes of participating

Learners

An outline for a learning activity, HelenBeetham 2007



Trip

Team

Personal space

Knowledge

OtherPersonal

space

Educational Spaces

… lab, home, library ….

Student +Computer(desktop,

laptop,‘netbook’)

Student information environmen

Rich Internet Applications

PLE Field

In the field


Computers in Fieldwork –Lyngen Alps, North Norway, 1984

Apple IIe + HDD + CRT Screen + generator+ people to carry them


Tabletsas Personal Learning Environments for students (and fieldworkers in general)


Notebooks in the field

• Can they displace (water-resistant) paper notebooks?

• What basic apps do you need?

• What 'extra' apps can provide

• Can tablets support disabilities - and make things easier in general?

• Can you use tablets anywhere?

• Challenge me, what do you want e-field notebooks to do?


iPad use and usage….

And it does not have to be internet connected


Demonstration:textbooks etc


Demonstration:textbooks etc


Geologically-useful apps

basemap photographed

by Camera, stored in Photos

exported to Skitch for

annotation(then shared or mailed on)


Aids to field sketchingAlways a problem with students

Sketching helps observation - photos alone are poor

Apps like Skitch (from Evernote) help observation and scaffold sketching, easily sent to electronic notebook

Easy to make observations and records at different scales (Mike De Freitas’ point)

Easy to share images with studentsadd images from field microscope (Proscope)

Analyse video clips taken with a tablet or smartphone or exterior camera using Coach’s Eye



Cameraused for a field

photocan be

exported to a notebook app (Penultimate,

Moleskine,AudioNote,

Gusto,Notability )

BTW, anybody know what the fish is?


Notebooks with audio



Galileo Map + SkitchFriday, 15 February 2013


Lambert

GeoID



Lambert

GeoID


Geologically-useful appsadd-ons


Other useful bits

• Add a microphone (‘desk’; lapel/lavalier)

• Add a thermometer (iCelsius)

• Add a (2-3m) GPS (BadElf)

• Camera/video download

• Solar Panel for remote fieldwork

• Display on TV with HDMI or AppleTV

• Extra external memory (Airstash)


Aiding student accessibility

• Easier note taking

• Voice recognition

• Field prompts (written, voice)

• Sharing data

• Signing


Disruptive* Devices?Disruptive Technology?Disruptive Innovation?

32‘Disrupting Class - How disruptive innovation will change the way the

world learns’ Christensen, Horn and Curtis, 2011


Yes, iPads work well in the field

They can be personalised, associated with specific tasks and do the job better than ‘traditional’ notebooks.


Focus on Fieldwork- Opportunities, problems and solutions

Documents

apps geoid lambertfriday

disruptive innovation

textbooks etcfriday

easy

easier

students

field

camera