BLENDED LEARNING FOR
MULTI-DISCIPLINARY
GEOGRAPHY-BASED FIELD
WORK
DAVID SMITH
AND
DR SIMON JONES
STEM ANNUAL CONFERENCE, 2012
Challenges
• International Students
• Mixed Discipline
• Inexperienced with
fieldwork delivery
• New method of
assessment for students
• Short time frame
Method
• Introductory lecture
• Hand Out
• Self exploration
– Signage
– Exhibitions
– Public interaction
• Further staff discussion
• PowerPoint Presentation
• Supported by annotations in the Note Section
Assessment
The notes section is
located beneath the
Main Slide area.
Results
• 68% pass rate
• High level of incorrect formatting
• Signs of self exploration and understanding
Results
Question Which three of the following descriptions best describe how you felt about the fieldwork you have recently undertaken in Cardiff?
n.
Did Not Enjoy 1
Wish it was not compulsory 2
Didn’t know what to expect 3
Thoroughly enjoyed it 4
Want to go again 0
Worthwhile 4
Glad we had a go 3
Learnt a lot 4
Results
Question Positive Neutral Negative
How do you feel about the following aspects of fieldwork in Cardiff Bay
n.
Visiting a different place 7 0 0
Meeting people from a local community
4 3 0
Achieving the academic demands of work
2 4 1
Enjoyed the Activity 5 2 0
Enjoyed the challenge 4 2 0
Enjoyed working in a group 5 3 0
Sometimes lost interest 2 1 2
Handout ensured I was well prepared 2 4 1
Not enjoyed 1 1 5
Would not recommend this fieldwork 0 3 4
Strengths
• Repeatable
• Covers groups interests
• Students appeared engaged with exercise method
• High student satisfaction
• Requires infrequently utilised skills
• Highly effective across international education systems*
• International academic staff satisfaction.
Conclusions
Conclusions
Weakness
• Potential for students not to ‘stick’ to task
• Potential to disengage from summative assessment
• Requires awareness of location for effective
planning
• Expectation differences between International and
UK students.
Next steps
• Improvement on
clarification of work
requirements
• Confirm expectations of
students ability using
PowerPoint
• Explore Photomarathon
presentations