66 | JADE
SARAH L TAYLOR
Figure 5: Level of participant agreement with statements (a) tree
apps will improve species identification skills [Appendix 4.1 – Q6],
and (b) iPads facilitate collaboration [Appendix 4.1 – Q7]
Table 2 Motivations for taking part in the workshop [Appendix 3a
- Q8]
3.2 The field activity
Despite the maturity and honourable intentions of the students who
volunteered, the whole thing descended into chaos reminiscent of
a kindergarten. Within the first three minutes of handing out the
devices a video of me giving instructions was posted on to YouTube
(without my consent), screen displays were changed to distorted
photographs of themselves and a student “broke” their device by
taking the plastic stand off and putting it back on so that it trapped
the volume button rendering it temporarily inoperable. However,
things quickly calmed down. The students were keen to document
the entire process (Figure 6) and spent the full hour in the field.
One group only had time to complete six target trees, while others
examined additional trees and there seemed to be a competition