ARTICLE #4 | 58
ARTICLE | #4
Title
Mobile learning devices as
collaborative tools to enhance
biological identification skills in
the lab and field
Author(s)
Sarah L. Taylor
Contact
[email protected]
School
School of Life Sciences
Faculty
Faculty of Natural Sciences
Abstract
According to the Chartered Institute
of Ecology and Environmental
Management, today’s biology
graduates lack the key species
identification skills required by
prospective employers. This mismatch
between students’ skills and employers’
requirements has serious implications
for employability after graduation.
Interactive species identification apps
on mobile learning devices, such as
Apple iPad ®, have the potential to
encourage active engagement with the
process of identification and provide
a means for students to (re)connect
with nature. This study examines the
potential of an iPad mobile digital
device and a suite of educational apps
to boost species identification skills in
a group teaching setting.
1. Introduction
1.1 The taxonomy ‘crisis’
Species identification and taxonomy are key skills required by
prospective employers that are often perceived by students
and staff as outdated and boring. A study by Nimis et al.
(2006) found that lengthy paper-based classical keys are
littered with technical jargon, making them difficult for the
layperson to use and are not appropriate for educational
projects or citizen science. Hence, students become quickly
disengaged with species identification, feeling overwhelmed by
the options and preferring to flick through books and look at
the photographs/diagrams rather than go through the formal
process of identification using descriptive and illustrative keys.
Such a surface learning approach to identification means that
students cannot identify similar species in different habitats as
they do not know the traits that define a given plant family, etc.
Academic institutions have also stepped away from traditional
taxonomic courses (Table 1a). For example, in 2011, Birmingham
University proposed to abandon the Biological Recording
programme despite it being the only such Masters course on
offer in the UK that provided habitat and species identification
skills for ecological consultants (BBC News, 2011). A report by
the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (IEEM,
2011) revealed there has been a national decline in species
identification skills at a time when it has never been more
important to protect the nation’s biodiversity and sustainability
of ecosystems. This has knock-on implications for the wider
scientific community (Table 1b), jeopardising the long-term
future of taxonomy. Warren et al. (2015) call for us to “act now
to overcome this inertia and identify identification as a worthy
and noble set of complex skills”.
Keywords
Educational apps, group work, tree
taxonomy, graduate skills, experiential
learning, Apple iPad
Table 1. Examples of the demise of taxonomy in (a) UK university
sector and (b) wider science community (Source: House of
Lords, 2008)