A review of the benefits and drawbacks to virtual field guides in today’s Geoscience higher education environment
A evaluate of the benefits and disadvantages to digital
discipline courses in today’s Geoscience higher education surroundings
International Journal of Educational Expertise in Higher
Education quantity 14, Article variety: 28 (2017) Cite this newsletter
Abstract
Virtual Field Guides are a way for coaches to address the
developing issue of investment pressures in areas of higher education, together
with geography. Virtual Field Guides are however underutilised and might offer
college students a exceptional manner of mastering. Virtual Field Guides have
many blessings to college students, such as being greater inclusive, building
scholar competencies and self belief in a controlled environment pre fieldtrip
and may boom engagement inside the subject matter studied. There are also
benefits to the educator, which includes reduced cost, extra efficient college
students on fieldwork responsibilities and the ability to tailor and update
their field publications to fit their needs. However there are drawbacks inside
the project of advent and their final results as instructional standalone gear.
This paper reviews the literature around the advantages and draw backs to the conception
and incorporation of digital discipline publications in geoscience schooling.
Changing nature of fieldwork
Fieldwork in Geoscience these days has modified and advanced
due to the boom in technology and the want to maintain up with the fast tempo
of current day lifestyles (Fuller, 2012). However, the pedagogical element of
subject guides has changed also, with a shift toward smaller numbers of
students in companies investigating smaller scale issues that they are able to
tackle (Simm & David, 2002). While fieldwork is certainly essential, it
does no longer make an powerful teaching and learning technique in its personal
right (Lonergran & Andres, 1988). As designated by way of Lonergran and
Andres (1988), taking college students into the sector does now not guarantee
an more suitable learning enjoy. For this to occur, it should align to the
curriculum of the path (Andrews, Kneale, Sougnez, Stewart, & Stott, 2003).
This make available the students with the opportunity to switch mastering from
factors inside the study room to actual world situations and helps expand their
future understandings of subjects to come (Biggs, 2003). There need to be an
emphasis located at the education of debriefing college students, each pre and
put up fieldtrip, to continually investigate the effectiveness of students
knowledge of the link between the direction materials and the fieldtrip (Kent,
Gilbertson, & Hunt, 1997). Schoolchildren who carry out geoscience
fieldwork indicate a ‘geographical reality’ even as expressing extra social
benefits together with feelings of belonging to a set and increasing their
interactions with friends and tutors (Fuller, Edmondson, French Republic,
Higgitt, & Ratinen, 2006; Marvelf, Simm, Schaaf, & Harpe, 2013). This topographical
reality increases further whilst students partake in local primarily based
research. Studies by way of Rawlings (1981) and Garver (1992), have shown that
in locally based research, college students have a higher connection and
understanding to their instantaneous environs. Due to this fitting together
they tend to be extra engaged and have a deeper know-how and appreciation for
the want for fieldwork, while gaining an appreciation of the goal of the route
as compared to fieldwork finished in a greater remote and un-relatable panorama
(McElroy, 1981; Slater, 1993; De Paor & Whitmeyer, 2009; Israel, 2012).
Fieldwork today
Fieldwork and the essential pedagogic methods have changed
together with the special type of shipping of the publications (De Paor &
Whitmeyer, 2009). Today there has been a move faraway from the Cook’s tour
model of fieldwork in the direction of a extra inclusive, numerous, and
holistic technique to studying inside the discipline, aided by using new
technologies (McCaffrey, Jones, Holdsworth, Wilson, Clegg, et al., 2005).
With the creation of low value airways in the early 2000’s
(Calder, 2003), price ticket costs plummeted and locations for fieldwork have
become greater available and extra within budget (Fuller et al., 2006). For the
primary time university students now had the opportunity for fieldwork abroad
that changed into no longer gift earlier than (Israel, 2012). With the creation
of the net, ICT structures (ICT structures which encompass hardware, computer software
system and the people who habit them) (Bowman et al., 2005) and more lately
cellular technology, the landscape of teaching in fieldwork has histrionically
changed (Fuller & France, 2014). It has been over 30 years considering the
fact that Gardiner and Unwin (1986), first used laptop based totally technology
in fieldwork to examine effects accumulated, that is a preferred practice
today. Now many college students’ own mobile technologies which permits them to
get right of entry to facts pre, publish and during a fieldtrip (Welsh,
Mauchline, Park, Whalley, & France, 2013). Such facts and data is a ways in
extra of the records college students could have had get right of entry to to
inside the early days of Commis chef Tour fieldtrips (Medzini, Meishar-Tal,
& Sneh, 2015). By means of the fast expansion and development of new low
priced technology and ICT in fieldwork, has enabled students and tutors to turn
out to be more green inside the discipline (Martin & Ertzberger, 2013).
Technology together with mobile applications and hand held data collection
devices e.G. Tablet and hand-held GPS have accelerated the information
collection system (Wentzel, 2005). This means that fieldtrips can contain
greater studying targets in step with trip than ever earlier than (Welsh &
France, 2012). Mobile technology have also allowed a exclusive form of coaching
to arise on fieldtrips thru using collaborative facts collection, off campus
learning and scholar guidance thru social media (Chen & Huang, 2012).
Despite all of this new era and its incorporation into these
days’s fieldtrips, there may be nonetheless an intrinsic pedagogical want for
bodily area journeys. Nevertheless there was a continued decline within the
number of fieldtrips taken within the UK because of some of reasons (Leydon
& Turner, 2013). Firstly, there has been a fast boom in better education
pupil numbers inside the UK (UK GOV, 2016) and Geoscience topics hold to upward
thrust to file degrees (Royal Geographical Association, 2016). This has placed
sizeable amounts of monetary pressures on faculties along with personnel time
commitments to finish fieldwork (Welsh & France, 2012). Such pressures have
created a quandary in which a few institutions are opting to pay for compulsory
fieldwork, whilst supplying many alternative or extra fieldwork at the cost of
the pupil (Fletcher & Dodds, 2004). This increases equitable issues and
locations burdens on college students who cannot financially find the money for
such extracurricular sports (Fuller, Gaskin, & Scott, 2003). Students at an
unfair downside also are added to mild through the want for fieldtrips to be
consisting of disabilities and differing requirements of schoolchildren and
genders (Rose, 1993; Hall, Healey, & Harrison, 2004). Technological
advancements as noted formerly have negated a number of the want to leave the
confines of the school room, particularly through the creation of GIS and video
descriptions (Fuller & France, 2014). Due to this, options are being sought
to fieldwork including the introduction of the digital area journey.
What is a digital field guide?
The improvement of the internet and equipment to be had
together with mobile technology for students to get right of entry to facts,
has rapidly expanded in the preceding decade (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Now
extra than ever is there a belief of collaborative wealthy records units created
on-line in communities from amateurs to specialists, for which each educators
and college students, can access to decorate their getting to know environments
(Litherland & Stott, 2012). Although, there is little disagreement in
literature to disclaim the blessings of fieldwork, it does come with its
challenges.
Virtual Field Guides (VFG), Virtual Turf Trips or Virtual
Fieldwork are phrases used interchangeably during literature but they are
contested standards with various definitions (Litherland & Stott, 2012).
Virtual Field Trips in essence try and seize the actual world surroundings of a
particular region or location thru a set of information, pics, cartography and
different technologies which includes GIS, without the price of physically
being there (Carmichael & Tscholl, 2011). As argued via Stainfield, Fisher,
Ford, and Solem (2000), the excellent examples of Virtual Field Trips are those
which includes each vintage and new methods, yet permit participation and
exploration of the environment and for students to broaden the abilties
associated with the ones methods. E-learning, that is defined as
“electronically mediated asynchronous and synchronous verbal exchange for the
reason of building and confirming know-how” (Garrison, 2011, p. 2) have shown
to boom mastering via lively participation in preference to passive (Fletcher,
France, Moore, & Robinson, 2007). This model of studying is a key idea in
the back of the educational advantages of using digital area courses/journeys
in higher education teachings. It heartens the use of participation and
engagement with the digital surroundings with peers and tutors.
The purpose of the Virtual Field Trip at present, has now
not been to update the conventional fieldtrip however to introduce college
students to the essential skills needed to understand their surroundings
earlier than occurring the ‘actual’ fieldtrip (Gilmour, 1997). Due to the
dearth of “virtual” such as being immersed in a three-D augmented truth, the
term Virtual Field Guide (VGF) might be used from right here on, in preference
to digital subject ride. @ Read More techiesbenefit vocabularystyle authenticfashionstyle