A group of 20 final year Geography and Natural Hazards students from the University of Chester were taken to the Howgill Fells in Northern England as part of a one night, two day trip to study fluvial geomorphology and how climate has impacted this environment.
In addition to data gathering field techniques, we asked each group of students (6-8 per group) to produce two short videos using digital cameras and tripods provided by the University. Firstly we asked that they produce a video about one of the methods that they had used and secondly, we required a video describing the landscape around them.
The first video required them to reflect on what they had done, why they had used that particular method and what data they had as a result of the method.
The second video required the students to reflect upon the "Cook's Tour" -style snippets that had been given to them throughout the day and also upon the data that they had gathered to make sense of their landscape. The students worked together to decide on key descriptors of the landscape before videoing themselves talking.
The students described the video as "fun" and it was a quick exercise for reflecting on the day and fieldwork whilst still in the field. The group plans to watch the videos when back at the University which encourages repetition of key ideas that came from the day.
Staff members observed that some of the students found the concept of aggradation and incision in fluvial environments one of the more challenging ideas. The Enhancing Fieldwork Learning team suggested that next time the trip runs, animations or short video clips of aggradation and incision could be loaded onto mp3 players (already available for student use in the Department of Geography and Development Studies, University of Chester) or Smartphones that are mp3 enabled (student-owned) so that students have another visual aid to help them with this concept, whilst in a dynamic landscape which is characteristic of aggradation and incision.
