ARTICLE #4 | 73
MOBILE LEARNING DEVICES AS COLLABORATIVE TOOLS TO ENHANCE
BIOLOGICAL IDENTIFICATION SKILLS IN THE LAB AND FIELD
a cross-disciplinary study on “enhancing fieldwork learning” using
affordable and ubiquitous technology, with a focus on the potential
of Apple iPad ® devices (Enhancing Fieldwork Learning, 2014). Such
innovative technologies need to be developed and implemented in
a pedagogically sound way (JISC 2009), and this study reflects the
first steps in tackling this within the Keele curriculum.
Species identification is an excellent way for our students to (re)connect with nature, while gaining key employability skills and
establishing a social network so that students can support each
other in the journey. This is something that was highlighted in the
student responses, and was one of the reasons for increasing the
collaboration facilitation score. The poor initial performance on the
collaborative potential of iPads is surprising considering multimedia
have quickly become the means of modern communication
(Gliksman, 2013, p. 14). Mobile devices can be used as a means
of bridging the communication gap to help students express
themselves and work collaboratively, and it is clear from student
engagement with this activity that the use of a device brought a new
angle to tree ID (Table 4). Indeed, the enthusiasm and excitement
for the tree ID apps supports the findings by Nimis et al. (2012) that
interactive apps make species identification more accessible.
The Apple iPad ® has a 5 megapixel camera, which can be used to
collect photos/videos of the specimens and the habitat in which
they are growing and of students carrying out the fieldwork, and
was the most highly rated app (Table 3). One cannot overestimate
the power of visuals. Such multimedia can help affirm identification
back in the laboratory and promotes the ethos of “take only
pictures leave only footprints”. This is particularly important when
dealing with protected habitats, such as Sites of Special Scientific
Interest (SSSIs), as collection of specimens is prohibited. However,
the biggest transformation was not undertaken by the students, but
by me. As a result of this workshop, I enrolled onto the Teaching
and Learning with Technology MA module, and used this innovation
study as my research project. Presenting at the first ever iPads in
HE conference (Taylor and Procter, 2015) showed me that I was
involved in something very exciting and far bigger than I could have
imagined. I put in a second successful equipment bid for another set
of six devices, and set about developing an Action Research project
on the use of mobile devices as a means of emulating ecological
consultancy style fieldwork in my final year conservation biology
module. I also adapted the trees ID workshop so that it could be
run as a stand-alone outreach activity in a classroom setting, using
teaching sets of tree twigs to bring fieldwork indoors.4.3 Study
limitations and future work.