Today I introduce our first guest bloggers who this year introduced a mobile learning exercise for environmental science students. Welcome Ailie Gallant and Vanessa Wong!
-Rowan
For students, having a smartphone is as normal as having clothes. Used for social networking, web browsing, taking photos, texting and occasionally calling, smartphones have become an integrated part of the lives of young people. In the U.S., mobile phone use by university students is estimated at around 90% with a recent study showing students at two U.S. universities checked their phones 60 times per day on average.
-Rowan
For students, having a smartphone is as normal as having clothes. Used for social networking, web browsing, taking photos, texting and occasionally calling, smartphones have become an integrated part of the lives of young people. In the U.S., mobile phone use by university students is estimated at around 90% with a recent study showing students at two U.S. universities checked their phones 60 times per day on average.
Two major benefits of smartphones are their portability and
app functions, which are small programs that share and store information with
ease. As teaching and learning are also forms of information sharing and
knowledge gaining, the smartphone lends itself strongly to being employed in a
classroom environment. The fact that smartphones can be taken anywhere also
means that learning can be taken outside the lecture theatre.
It was the above benefits, as well as the familiarity students
have with the technology, that we decided to exploit when we trialled
smartphones as teaching tools for a first year environmental science class in
Semester 2, 2013.
Using the portability aspect, we employed smartphones in a
self-guided field trip. Student feedback from previous years suggests that
field trips are a big drawcard for students and are often the highlight of
their study. Engaging students on field trips (regardless of the use of
smartphones) encourages learning through inquiry-based
activities and experiential learning. It allows ownership of an
intellectual problem by students as they make their own investigation with only
peripheral instruction, thereby better engaging them in activities.
Using these ideas, we trialled the use of a smartphone app
called “Locacious”, which took students on a self-guided walking tour of a
bayside suburb in order to examine the potential impacts of sea-level rise. Multiple
stops on a map, which students were guided to via the inbuilt phone GPS, had pre-recorded
commentary from the lecturers. For those students without iPhones, a podcast of
the same commentary and Google Earth .kmz file was also provided.
 |
| The start of the self-guided walking tour (Photo credit: Adeline Tay) |
The activity was undertaken in groups and students were
given three weeks to complete it in their own time. The tour took the students
along the foreshore at Elwood and upstream along the canal. As well as
listening to the provided commentary, students were directed to make
observations about the natural and built environment to understand the
potential impacts of sea-level rise in the area. Following the tour, the
student reflected on their observations and knowledge in class, and prepared
arguments for a mock debate about adaptation to sea-level rise.
Informal feedback received at the end of semester via a
survey suggested that the students enjoyed the walking tour component of the
course and appreciated the flexibility that it provided. They stated they found
the format engaging and appreciated being able to contextualise a relevant
environmental problem by being in the relevant physical space while receiving
the information. Another important, but often overlooked benefit, was that a
sense of cohort was established in this series of activities. Student
engagement was further reflected in the exam, with many students answering the
exam question using direct observations from the tour.
Overall, we found the format has strong potential to be used
for teaching purposes in the field. Despite some technical glitches, the student
experience was very positive overall. There are a number of benefits in
integrating smartphones into teaching. They allow us to deliver more
field-based teaching in a flexible manner. The evidence so far suggests that
smartphones can provide a vehicle for implementing innovative teaching
techniques, which allows students to better contextualise the information
provided to them.
Ailie Gallant and Vanessa Wong are based in the School of Geography and Environmental Science. Follow them on twitter (@SafariPenguin and @DrVanessaWong)
