Virtual Geographies and the Use of the Internet for Learning and Teaching Geography in Higher Education

Despite the plethora of teaching materials that are available on the Internet to enhance geography higher education, few assessments of the effectiveness of these materials exist. This symposium collects papers that provide guidelines for using the Internet effectively for teaching geography. Students must learn how to use the Internet effectively to promote learning; instructors need to learn how to use the Internet effectively to promote good practice in higher education; instructors need to learn how to use the Internet effectively to enhance learning; and higher educators need to learn how to use the Internet effectively not only in traditional classroom settings, but in new, non-traditional settings such as those used for distance learning. These papers provide some assessment of these various aspects of using the Internet for teaching geography in higher education.     

Improving the preparation for fieldwork with ‘IT’: Two examples from physical geography

Abstract

Two potential roles for information technology (IT) to enhance the preparation phase for fieldwork are investigated. In the first initiative, a prototype geographical information system (GIS) is developed to support local fieldwork activity. The second initiative develops computer‐based briefing tutorials to prepare students for residential field classes. By enhancing the preparatory phase of fieldwork, students are more quickly acclimatised once they arrive at the field site, they are better able to focus on the key issues, and valuable time in the field can be utilised more effectively.     

Applying a systems approach to the management of change in fieldwork

Abstract

Fieldwork is increasingly subject to a variety of external pressures. The management of change in fieldwork provision can be aided by an appreciation of the systemic nature of fieldwork. Social paradigms of team behaviour are particularly applicable to fieldwork, and to understanding some systems failures.     

Georges Perec’s experimental fieldwork; Perecquian fieldwork

This paper traces key themes in contemporary experimental fieldwork – explorations of ordinary places by artists, writers, activists, enthusiasts, students and researchers – to the works of Georges Perec. Preoccupations of this work – including playfulness, attention to the ordinary, and writing as a fieldwork practice – are all anticipated and elaborated in Perec’s oeuvre, where they converge around an ‘essayistic’ approach. Exhibiting these traits, some contemporary fieldwork is more convincingly Perecquian than psychogeographical or Situationist, despite the tendency to identify it with the latter. Through Perec, it is therefore possible to bring contemporary experimental fieldwork into focus, identifying a coherence and sense of project within it, while speaking to the question of what it means and could mean to conduct fieldwork experimentally. Particular attention is paid in this paper to Perec’s most accomplished and sustained field texts, both of which have been translated into English: An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris (2010, from 1975 original in French) and Species of Spaces (1999/1974).     

The fortifications of Fort George,Ardersier, near Inverness: archaeological investigations 1990–2005

Abstract

Fort George was built between 1748 and 1760 at Ardersier Point on the Moray Firth. Extensive contemporary documentation of the fort's construction survives in the archives of the Board of Ordnance. This paper describes archaeological fieldwork carried out during conservation works between 1990 and 2005. Excavation was undertaken on the East Front, the Point Battery at the western extremity, and the North and South Casemates. Work was also undertaken at the Men's Latrine and at the Pier. Together with detailed analysis of documentary sources, fieldwork has enhanced understanding of methods and priorities for defence procurement during the mid-18th century.     

Temporality,Dispossession and the Search for the Good: Interpreting the Book of Jeremiah with the Jesuit Refugee Service

ABSTRACT

This article explores potential connections between the experience of contemporary forced migrants subject to destitution and detention policies in the UK and readings of the biblical text, including the Book of Jeremiah. Drawing from fieldwork interviews conducted in London, it notes the significance of Jeremiah 29 to and its interpretation by interviewees. In dialogue with other articles in this volume and based on the insights of those interviewed for this project, the article considers the figure of Jeremiah as a critical figure in debate about forced migration and the Book of Jeremiah. It concludes with a proposal for connecting the narratives of contemporary forced migrants, readings of the text of Jeremiah, and the work of Simone Weil.     

Youth aspirations and employment in provincial Indonesia: a view from the lower middle classes

ABSTRACT

Demographically and geographically, lower middle class youth occupy an ambiguous position in Indonesian society, embodying elements of both privilege and marginality. Drawing on interviews and 16 months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2008 and 2013, this article considers how an emerging provincial middle class seeks to make good on the promises of an expanding higher education system and proliferation of globalised youth cultures. I examine the capacity and limits of higher education in facilitating young people’s aspirations for youth lifestyles, jobs and the future in a regional labour market with high levels of youth underemployment and informality. Young people’s aspirations for employment and middle class standards of living are mitigated by their responsibilities towards their families and difficulties to establish the social connections needed to access jobs and opportunities. Faced with limited upward mobility, class as an aspirational category rather than everyday reality underpins young people’s claims about the good life.     

Photography as Geographical Fieldwork

Photography has a long history in geographical fieldwork. This paper reports on a student project that recovers this history and uses photography and commentary to represent the city of Barcelona. The place of the project within the broader (second-year undergraduate) fieldcourse and curriculum is described. The paper concludes with considerations of the way that photography lends itself to raise issues of representation evident in contemporary human geography. Since it is accessible to students, and offers practical examples, photography is a good way to approach and introduce more complex questions of method, epistemology and representation.     

Student Perceptions of Geography and Environmental Science Fieldwork in the Light of Restricted Access to the Field,Caused by Foot and Mouth Disease in the UK in 2001

Internationally, fieldwork is generally seen as intrinsic to the very nature of geographical education. However, objective experimentation comparing student learning experiences with and without fieldwork is rare. During 2001 in the UK, fieldwork was withdrawn from many university degree programmes as Foot and Mouth Disease led to restrictions on access to the countryside. This restriction provided an unexpected opportunity to assess student perceptions of fieldwork in the light of its absence and to review those alternative learning strategies which were put in its place (where appropriate). To this end, nominal group technique (NGT) was applied to five groups of students from five separate UK universities to obtain information on the groups' perceptions of the value of fieldwork. NGT elicited almost 300 responses from 33 final-year students representing a high level of group consensus on the issues involved. Rationalisation of responses identified 12 categories, which reflect and amplify key educational objectives addressed by fieldwork in geography and environmental sciences from existing theoretical literature. Results demonstrate that student perception of fieldwork (based on previous university-level field experiences) is overwhelmingly positive. The groups identified the experience of geographical reality, developing subject knowledge, acquiring technical, transferable and holistic skills, and working with peers and lecturers as being the most important perceived benefits of fieldwork. Negative impacts of fieldwork included high levels of time consumption. Using a systematic and objective methodology, these results confirm, in a novel rigorous multi-institutional approach, the conception of geography and environmental science fieldwork as being of significant value for the overall student learning experience.     

War-time academic professionalism

Abstract

This brief commentary shows how chronic problems of academic praxis come to the fore in times of major political crises. The areas of popularisation, education and fieldwork are used as examples to highlight the weaknesses and failures of scholarly routines. As a consequence of these difficulties, a fundamental re-conceptualisation of the boundaries of the academic sphere is required.     

Student Evaluation and Assessment of Group Projects

University teachers in the UK are increasingly being asked to develop skills, such as the ability to work effectively in groups, both by government and by employers. This paper outlines and evaluates, from a student perspective, the use of fieldwork projects to develop group-working skills. It also considers the use of self-assessment for summative purposes and the development of reflective practice or 'learning to learn' skills in students.     

Moral teaching in geography

Abstract

Moral issues tend to be marginalised in contemporary education. This paper argues that geography is well placed to help to address this defect. Some cases with an obvious geographical dimension are outlined, to show how they might be used to open up broader moral problems. Geography teaching in higher education could have an important part to play in the reassertion of a moral dimension in how people come to understand the world and play a part in its re‐creation.     

Image is everything: educator awareness of perceived barriers for students with physical disabilities in geoscience degree programs

ABSTRACT

This exploratory pilot study builds on the image issues associated with geoscience degrees (namely physical geography and geology) and the potential obstacles this creates for prospective applicants with physical disabilities; departmental faculty may not be aware of the exclusive image projected that is thought to attract more students. While the industry has moved from field-based data collection to more office-based observation and interpretation of those data, universities still heavily rely on “adventurous geoscience” in their marketing, depicting students tackling challenging environments. The context of perception issues within the geoscience discipline is illustrated through selected program promotional materials, and student registration data. These issues were used for the basis of our study survey, sent out to higher education geoscience educators, which asked questions reading fieldwork and accessibility of the curriculum. These surveys were followed up with semi-structured interviews, investigating educator awareness of the perceived importance of fieldwork within the curriculum. The awareness of accessibility issues were connected with opportunities to lower perceived barriers sufficiently to encourage students with disabilities to apply for geoscience degrees. Outcomes of this exploratory investigation are hoped to provide the springboard for further conversations amongst the geoscience community.     

Teaching Introductory Geographic Information Systems through Problem-based Learning and Public Scholarship

This paper is concerned with the transition from school/college to higher education and discusses the outcomes of surveys of first-year undergraduates enrolled on geography degrees with respect to their experiences of field study as part of GCE Advanced level programmes prior to entry. Despite the core status given to fieldwork in the geographical training offered at Advanced level, the surveys show substantial variation among students in terms of field days, ranging from zero to 11 days. Consequently, each student cohort has a very uneven background of field study. Additionally, although students have developed generally positive attitudes to field study, a number of preferences and prejudices are identified. Many students have clearer recollections of data collection and recording techniques than of the character of the places in which investigations occurred. The resultant implications for field study within undergraduate programmes are discussed.     

Sagset 77

Abstract

Student reading is frequently seen as a major component of study in higher education, yet the amount actually undertaken frequently falls short of teacher expectations. The use of course readers to encourage and support student reading in geography courses is described and details of one institution's practice are provided as a guide to others of the benefits and pitfalls involved. The authors’ expectations of the value and limitations of readers are tested by means of a student evaluation exercise and some reflections are made on their likely future.     

Experiential learning through integrated project work: an example from soil science

Abstract

The planning, implementation and evaluation of an integrated soil science project are examined. The project aimed to develop a wide range of student‐centred approaches to learning, whilst promoting the development of a variety of transferable skills and personal qualities. The four project components (fieldwork, laboratory analysis, data interpretation and preparation of a written report) ran in sequence. Only the written report was formally assessed although potential developments of this system were considered. The project was implemented in the light of Kolb's cyclical model of experiential learning, and student evaluation was achieved through questionnaire analysis and group discussion.     

The Power of Place: Tourism Development in Costa Rica

Abstract

In this paper, I question how representations of tourist destinations color and are colored by development. Presenting the results of ethnographic fieldwork conducted on the southern Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, I find that the authenticity of portrayals of place is important not for its veracity, but for the social work it performs. Authenticity is not merely socially constructed but expressive of social relations which value people and places. Tourist perceptions of the caribe sur as genuinely underdeveloped—gauged by an analysis of photos and guidebooks as well as surveys—produce an approach to resource use within the community that is limiting. Because the value of the place is its underdevelopment, development itself constrains the possibility of sustaining further growth. Ultimately, reading development via place can be a guide for critically appreciating contemporary patterns of tourism and sustainable development in the caribe sur and elsewhere.     

'Geographical Expeditions': Assessing the benefits of a student-driven fieldwork method

A student-driven fieldwork method, focused in a local metropolitan area, is described and assessed. Developed for a second-level course in cultural geography, it was inspired by the 'Geographical Expeditions' originally devised by William Bunge in the 1960s. It is one solution to maintaining fieldwork in the syllabus for a large class, at the same time as providing benefits for participants in terms of challenge and autonomy. Student responses are compared with the merits of fieldwork as claimed in the literature. In view of concerns expressed about increasing student 'disengagement' from commitment to university study, active participation in a 'Geographical Expedition' is a strong motivating factor.     

Archaeology from below

Abstract

This paper identifies and discusses two contrasting approaches to field archaeology in contemporary Britain. The dominant approach is that of ‘official archaeology’ rooted in professional rescue (or contract) work and represented by bodies such as English Heritage, county archaeology units and the Institute of Field Archaeologists. This ‘archaeology from above’ threatens alternative approaches to fieldwork, since state legislation and other bureaucratic controls are being used to restrict access to archaeology to an elite of self-accredited practitioners, and a persuasive and sophisticated ideology of heritage ‘protection’ and professional ‘standards’ is being deployed to legitimize this policy. This attempt to universalize the practices of professional rescue archaeology is academically incoherent and politically undemocratic. An alternative ‘archaeology from below’ is proposed in which fieldwork is rooted in the community, open to volunteer contributions, organised in a non-exclusive, non-hierarchical way, and dedicated to a research agenda in which material, methods and interpretation are allowed to interact. These points are illustrated with detailed references to the experience of ‘democratic archaeology’ on the author's project at Sedgeford in northwest Norfolk in 1996–98.     

Resource extraction and national anxieties: China’s economic presence in Mongolia

Abstract

Over the last two decades and particularly in the last 10 years, Chinese investment in Mongolia has skyrocketed, with the vast majority of the country’s exports now flowing to China. As foreign investment has grown in Mongolia, particularly in the mining sector, apprehension circulates about the extension and meaning of increased Chinese power. We argue that contemporary anxieties about China’s economic influence in Mongolia go beyond recent and contemporary political economic issues and are tied to memories of the Qing Dynasty. Controversies surrounding Mongolia’s flagship mine, the Oyu Tolgoi copper–gold mine in South Gobi province, demonstrate how even non-Chinese foreign mining operations are intertwined with Mongolia’s past and future relationships with China. Rather than acting simply as resource nationalists, the people and government of Mongolia often see contemporary Chinese economic power through a historical lens, with fears of declining sovereignty and becoming Chinese through control over land and resources. This paper draws on fieldwork conducted by the authors in Mongolia from 2009 to 2015 and contributes to discussions about fears of Chinese influence, extractive industry development, and resource nationalism in Mongolia.