Focus on Fieldwork- Opportunities, problems and solutions
1. Focus on Fieldwork –
Student use, uptake &
feedback
#MELSIG
Friday, 15 February 2013
2. 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
Friday, 15 February 2013
3. 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
Friday, 15 February 2013
4. 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
Friday, 15 February 2013
5. 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"
Friday, 15 February 2013
6. 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
Friday, 15 February 2013
7. Protecting
Technology
• Protected against most accidents
• Weather-protected
• Glare from screen
• Access to camera
• Added weight
Friday, 15 February 2013
9. 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
Friday, 15 February 2013
10. 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
Friday, 15 February 2013
12. Tablets as field note books and
Personal Learning Environments
Brian Whalley
b.whalley@sheffield.ac.uk
Vicky Powell
v.powell@chester.ac.uk
Derek France, Chester University
Julian Park, Reading University
An HEA-Funded project Alice Mauchline, Reading University
Katharine Welsh, Chester University
Friday, 15 February 2013
13. Personalised learning?
in personal learning spaces?
How do we
personalise?
and in what
learning
spaces?
Friday, 15 February 2013
14. 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)
Friday, 15 February 2013
15. Identities: preferences, needs motivations.
Competencies: skills knowledge, abilities
Roles; Approaches and modes of participating
Learners
Learning Specific interaction of learners with other
people, using specific tools and resources, Learning
Environment oriented towards specific outcomes Outcomes
Tools, resources, artefacts
affordances of the physical Learning activity New Knowledge, skills
and abilities. Evidence of
and virtual environment for This and/or artefacts of the
learning learning process
An outline for a learning activity,
Helen
Beetham 2007
Others
Other people involved and the specific role they
play in the interactions, e.g. support, mediate,
change, guide
Friday, 15 February 2013
17. Educational Spaces
Personal
space Other
Personal
In the field Team space
Trip
Field PLE
Student
Rich Internet
information
Applications
environmen
Knowledge
Student +
Computer
(desktop,
… lab, home, library …. laptop,
‘netbook’)
Friday, 15 February 2013
18. Computers in Fieldwork –
Lyngen Alps, North Norway, 1984
Apple IIe + HDD + CRT Screen +
generator+ people to carry them
Friday, 15 February 2013
19. as Personal Learning
Tablets Environments for students (and
fieldworkers in general)
Friday, 15 February 2013
20. 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?
Friday, 15 February 2013
21. iPad use and usage….
And it does not have to
be internet connected
Friday, 15 February 2013
24. Geologically-useful apps
basemap
photographed
by Camera,
stored in
Photos
exported to
Skitch for
annotation
(then shared
or mailed on)
Friday, 15 February 2013
25. Aids to field sketching
Always 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 students
add images from field microscope
(Proscope)
Analyse video clips taken with a tablet or
smartphone or exterior camera using
Coach’s Eye
Friday, 15 February 2013
26. Geologically-useful apps
Camera
used for a field
photo
can be
exported to a
notebook app
(Penultimate,
Moleskine,
AudioNote,
Gusto,
Notability )
BTW, anybody know
what the fish is?
Friday, 15 February 2013
32. 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)
Friday, 15 February 2013
33. Aiding student accessibility
• Easier note taking
• Voice recognition
• Field prompts (written, voice)
• Sharing data
• Signing
Friday, 15 February 2013
34. Disruptive* Devices?
Disruptive Technology?
Disruptive Innovation?
‘Disrupting Class - How disruptive innovation will change the way the
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world learns’ Christensen, Horn and Curtis, 2011
Friday, 15 February 2013
35. Yes, iPads work well in the field
They can be personalised,
associated with specific tasks
and do the job better than
‘traditional’ notebooks.
Friday, 15 February 2013
