Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences Stuart McLelland & Lewis Holloway

Big Ideas - GEES programmes: 1. A gateway to understanding human-environment relationships 2. Involve learning by doing with problem-framed skills development, embedded in teaching 3. Focussed on fieldwork that engages with people, places and processes, and the complexities of real world issues 4. Enhanced with digital geotechnologies to develop the research and analysis toolkits students can use 5. Driven and improved through a focus on specialist themes defined by staff research interests and academic specialisms

Pedagogy in GEES 1. Focus on practice: develop key competencies and skills, alongside knowledge and understanding to use them effectively; Geography demands adaptability and flexibility - students will learn to be critical, reflexive and responsive 2. Focus on real world problems and issues in both classroom and field work. Field work core to the student experience at all levels. 3. Develop a set of core geographical skills 4. Students progress between Levels and reflexively transfer knowledge and skills between modules at the same and at different Levels 5. Focus on enhancing employability through skills and knowledges applicable to real-world problems and contexts.

Integrating fieldwork into the curriculum

Why Geotechnologies?

Lack of knowledge of effects and effectiveness of technologies in enhancing field learning No App able to replace a field notebook Apps don't take advantage of new technology

Paper prototype UI created by Man Lam and Ryan Lay (CS MSc students/Seed Software Development)

Embedding geotechnology in the curriculum Creating and testing new geotechnologies ‘in the wild’ Agile and responsive software development with student input What are the effects of using geotechnologies on the learning experience? (How) do they enhance learning? Are there unintended consequences? How do digital tools more widely change perceptions of landscape, place, geographical features? How do they become involved in the production of knowledge?

Questions for discussion 1. What is the potential for geotechnologies beyond GEES (e.g. other disciplines, other universities, schools …)? 2. How do other disciplines integrate ‘real world’ problems into curriculum and pedagogy