Field learning tools ready for exploring

Shooting 360° pictures for the virtual field guides. Photo: Jòhannes Bjarki Urbancic Tòmasson

The FieldPass project at UNIS has had a productive year with several teaching and assessment tools for student learning being developed and tested out. Our core team of teaching staff with a postdoc and a technician are exploring different methods to improve the way we prepare students, assess students, and make students reflect on their practical field- and lab learning. One of the main tools created last year is the virtual field guides aiming to enhance the learning outcomes from fieldwork.  In a newly published news article from UNIS you can read more about how these virtual field guides can help reducing the gap between the theoretical knowledge and the reality the students meets when they approach fieldwork.

For more information about our tools, you can visit our FieldPass project page where you also will be introduced to our certification and reflection part of the teaching and assessment toolkit we are working with. Certification of practical skills can be useful to state if certain skills have been learned and at UNIS, together with UiO and UiB pilot certification procedures for assessing microscope skills in the lab have been developed. To support the microscopy certification an instructional microscope video have been produced. These certification procedures will be extended this spring and summer to also include practical skills in the field.  We are also testing tools and practices for reflective thinking and writing to additionally strengthen the learning outcome from field work.  During the last year reflective tools was thoughtfully developed and tested out in several courses run at UNIS and at UiB and will also continue this spring. At our homepage you will find a series of videos explaining the concept of reflective thinking and how the reflective thinking can be visualized.

Credits: UNIS