Teaching ethics when working with geocoded data:a novel experiential learning approach

Research ethics are not the favourite subject of most undergraduate geography students. However, in the light of increasing mixed-methods research, as well as research using geocodes, it is necessary to train students in the field of ethics. Experiential learning is an approach to teaching that is potentially suitable for teaching ethics. The aim of this article is to discuss how the experiential learning process in a course on Ethics & GPS-tracking contributed to the ethical awareness of third-year undergraduate geography students. We conducted a qualitative study in which we held four focus group discussions with two cohorts of students (2016 and 2017). We explored the students' views on the learning environment in relation to ethics in GPS-based and mixed-methods research. Our findings show how an informal learning environment and collaborative learning in a small group contributed to deep understanding of research ethics. These aspects of the learning environment are tied to an ethical framework that consists of three dimensions: (1) the ethics of collaborative research between staff and students; (2) the ethics of privacy raised by the geo-technology adopted in this research case study; and (3) the ethics of the research process with respect to informed consent and data storage

Re-engaging with places: Understanding bio-geo-graphical disruption and flow in adult brain injury survivors

Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) is one of the most common causes of disability and death in adults worldwide. After a period of rehabilitation, many ABI survivors still face complex mind/body conditions when they try to take up their former life again. Besides lasting visible impairments such as weakness and loss of body balance, there are often less obvious disabilities such as extreme fatigue, hypersensitivity for stimuli, memory, concentration and attention problems or personality changes. The aim of this paper is to understand how ABI survivors and their significant others renegotiate their engagements with everyday places, using the concepts of bio-geo-graphical disruption and flow. We conducted in-depth interviews and did a place-mapping exercise with 18 adult ABI survivors and their significant others. The data were analysed according to the principles of thematic analysis, with use of Atlas.ti. In the struggles of ABI survivors' relations with place, our findings show diversity in personal experiences and strategies, as well as commonalities at a more general level. First, having access to meaningful places, old and new, and coming to terms with the fact that some places may not be accessible anymore, appeared to be vital in the participants' process of healing. Second, the interplay or, as we call it, reciprocity, between different places can contribute to wellbeing: for instance, the security and continuity found at home may enable ABI survivors to handle a trip to a crowded city centre. Thus, by framing mind/body problems of ABI survivors in terms of a network of meaningful places rather than as a body with lost functions, our study shows how the reciprocity between multiple places has a potentially positive effect on life post-ABI