USING STUDENT IMAGES TO EXPAND AND SHARE LEARNING OUTCOMES

Most educators agree that blending technology within our courses is an excellent idea. However, in reality this idea can often feel overwhelming and seem difficult to properly implement. I would like to share a simple model that we use called “CASP”. “CASP” is an acronym that stands for CAPTURE-ANNOTATE-SHARE-PRESENT. This works with all level of students, especially in groups of varying experience. “CASP” is a simple model that promotes learning, discussion, and generates artifacts for students as they mature within a geoscience program.

Using an iPad or any smart phone makes the capture portion simple. Students will use the built in camera feature to insure they have enough available Information on the subject to move to the next step. Once the capture stage has been completed, students can begin to annotate the images. We use the free app, Adobe Sketch, to accomplish this task. Students generally start this process while they are still in the field. This app allows students to shade, draw, label, or color the image for the desired learning features. During our program we found that we would need to initially direct the students to a few objects, but soon they would be able to do this on their own. After the images have been annotated, students share their images with the other groups/students. This task is simple to complete on the iPad device by using the “AirDrop” feature. This will allow each group to see what others were noticing and observing. This generates a peer learning environment where groups will become critical about other groups’ observations. After each group has made their case for their observations, the instructor can then discuss the desired outcomes. After the groups have collected several learning targets or locations, it is time for the students to organize their observations and findings into a concise visual product. We use Adobe Spark Page for this activity. This app allows students to add their annotated images and engage in academic journaling to discussing their findings.

One interesting outcome from using this system is that students will learn to innovate with the technology. After they have completed a few exercises, we found that they were able to find new ways of using technology to augment learning in ways that we had not thought of. This model can grow and adapt to meet most educational needs.