EXPLORING REMOTE ACCESS TO FIELD AND LAB-BASED LEARNING THROUGH MOBILE AND ONLINE TECHNOLOGIES

Mobile and online technologies can provide powerful tools to facilitate access to inaccessible locations for a range of geoscience learners. In this presentation we'll present three distinct examples where technology has been used to mediate access to geoscience environments and make recommendations for tailoring these approaches to other learning contexts.

The examples include: the sharing of data, telephone calls and streaming video over a local area network to enable access to nearby field sites for students with physical disabilities on undergraduate field courses in geology and environmental science; the use of interactive widgets and video web broadcasting services to introduce undergraduate distance learning students to fieldwork on an environmental science course; and the use of video conferencing as a school engagement platform, linking a classroom of 12th Grade students with their teacher and a researcher in the university's space research labs.

In these examples, technology has been used to enable more students to engage with authentic location-based learning activities as a means of introducing and promoting socially inclusive fieldwork and practical science, than could be achieved in a face-to-face context. We’ll draw upon data collected from the students and instructors in each case to explore the nature of live interaction between geographically separate groups; and discuss the opportunities and challenges that this brings regarding students' participation and sense of engagement.