Recently there has been much research into the use of mobile technologies in fieldwork teaching and learning. Where it has been used the mobile technology has had a positive influence on student engagement and learning, and on the student experience. It is important to use and develop these technologies in our fieldwork teaching here at the University of Northampton for many reasons, including benefitting both students and the University.

1. Other uses
The iPad minis were used to facilitate learning in
a number of Environmental and Geographical
Sciences modules.
The activities undertaken included:
• Producing group presentations on ‘Citizen
Science’
• Making iMovie trailers on ‘Conservation
Biogeography’ (see Figure 3)
• Working in small groups to research and
present a research proposal
Figure 3: Screenshots from iMovie
Various apps were used by the students and
Apple TV was used to allow students to present
their work immediately in the class.
Informal feedback from students was
overwhelmingly positive. They thoroughly
enjoyed the sessions and welcomed the
opportunity to use creative learning techniques.
Future plans
• To continue to use mobile technology in the
field and classroom
• To trial the iPad minis on fieldwork in Norway
MApping: integrating mobile technology into
geography fieldwork learning and teaching
Naomi Holmes1* and Adel Gordon2
1School of Science and Technology 2Learning Technology *naomi.holmes@northampton.ac.uk
Aim: to enhance the student experience through the integration of mobile technology into geography fieldwork teaching and learning.
Introduction
Recently there has been much research into the
use of mobile technologies in fieldwork teaching
and learning. Where it has been used the mobile
technology has had a positive influence on
student engagement and learning, and on the
student experience.
It is important to use and develop these
technologies in our fieldwork teaching here at the
University of Northampton for many reasons,
including benefitting both students and the
University.
Benefits to students:
• accessible technology and learning
• familiarity with devices
• learn and use new technologies being used by
employers
• enjoyable and fun learning experience
• group/team and individual working
• flexible learning
Benefits to the University:
• increased student engagement
• enhanced student experience
• would allow development of similar activities to
enable distance learning students to learn field
skills and undertake closely monitored field
projects
The project
The use of mobile technology was trialled in
ENV2123 Physical Geography Practical. A Habitat
Survey was carried out by small groups of
students at Delapre Park in Northampton.
Students borrowed iPad minis and used the apps
Fieldtrip GB and Skitch to record data in the field.
Fieldtrip GB (see Figure 1) allows users to record
information on custom data collection forms
along with photograph, video, audio and text
data capture.
Figure 1: Screenshots from the Fieldtrip GB app.
Skitch allows the user to take a
photo or image and to annotate
it (for an example see Figure 2).
This is very useful for fieldwork.
Figure 2: Field photo annotated in
Skitch
Students engaged well with the technology and
used the iPad minis to collect the habitat survey
data. Being able to design the forms before the
survey was thought to be very useful.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the University of Northampton
Innovation Fund for awarding funding to this project.