Development of Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) activities and an Evaluation of their Impact on Learning: Geoscience students’ perceptions,

Recently, the recognition of Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) tools in natural hazard management and disaster reduction has gained prominence. A successful CERC will ensure the relevant stakeholders are effective communicating with each other. This requires a clear plan and set of principles that enables the stakeholders to function effectively in a crisis. Students hoping to work in the emergency and natural hazard management field need to develop these skills. This paper outlines the development of a range of risk communicating activities including simulation exercises for undergraduate Geoscience students. Progress in the development of the students risk communication skill through the series of activities is tracked and evaluated. Results indicate that 87% of the students perceived their risk communication skills were good or excellent after undertaking the exercises compared to 26% before. This paper also evaluates the impact of the activities and if they motivated them to learn more about the subject as a whole. Students generally indicated that the exercises motivated them to learn more about natural hazard management and they felt that they have become better risk communicators. They also indicate that they gained a more in-depth understanding of the requirements of effective and timely communications should they need to develop a CERC strategy during a crisis

Modelling basin-scale sediment dynamics in the Petit lac d'Annecy catchment, France

This research describes the testing, development and application of an established hydro-geomorphic numerical model (CAESAR) over different time scales (170-2000 years) to simulate at hourly time resolution, the changes in the hydrological and sediment regime of the Petit lac d’Annecy catchment in response to changes in system drivers. Two thousand year long model runs in five different morphological settings were simulated, the results suggest that intrinsic system behaviour such as storage-release, hillslope-channel coupling and supply-capacity relationships may well exert larger controls on sediment discharge patterns over this timescale than climate or land use drivers. Hypothetical scenarios to investigate the geomorphic implications of a snow-free pre-alpine region over the last 2000 years show that there would be around 1.4 times more sediment discharge, with the annual hydrological regime radically altered with increased flooding throughout the year, particularly in winter months and a lack of a sustained discharge peak in the ‘melt’ months. This has implications for the projected environmental changes over the coming decades. The simulated effects of increased precipitation, reduced forest cover and snow-free conditions, in combination, point to increased amounts of coarse sediment discharge within the channels. Broad estimations show that a 20% reduction in forest cover or snow-free conditions can result in an additional 1m of sediment moving through the system and accumulating in the lake with potentially large impacts on flooding, in-channel fauna, benthic-dwelling lake fauna, aquatic macrophysics and water quality and water availability for storage and local power generation

Towards flexible personalized learning and the future educational system in the fourth industrial revolution in the wake of Covid-19

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Higher Education Pedagogies on 25/02/2021, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/23752696.2021.1883458The concept of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is examined and related to a ubiquitously connected and pervasively proximate (UCaPP) world, Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity (VUCA) as well as Barnett's concept of 'supercomplexity' in Higher Education and its response to Covid-19. Pedagogies need to be aligned with institutional and views about 'quality education' but with respect to the likely changes in the nature of undergraduate student intake in the formulation of a Future Educational System. Considerations include students from 'nontraditional' sources adapting to existing university structures and how adaptive structures might accommodate these students on top of changes and disruptions resulting from Covid-19. We consider that mobile devices (phones and tablets) allow Personal Learning Environments (PLEs) to be developed in accordance with individual students' needs. PLEs allow ubiquitous, flexible educational structures to be developed to improve personalised and quality education. Educational policies should be associated with connectivist approaches involving active learning via broad curriculum development and the core values of 'hybrid-flexible' learning and appreciate the importance of individual student needs and capabilities, socio-economic as well as academic. We stress the importance of broadening access to higher education, in particular, those who have been 'neglected' by current procedures

The iPad six years on: progress and problems for enhancing mobile learning with special reference to fieldwork education

This paper summarises findings from 2010 involving mobile technologies in the Enhancing Fieldwork Learning project. We show, through practical involvement with students and higher education teaching practitioners, that iPads can be used to facilitate innovative pedagogies and promote active learning in various field and outofclass situations. We also note that iPads and similar smart devices can be useful in Higher Education in general. The acceptance of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is far less common in the HE system in the UK than at secondary level despite the range of apps and development of students’ individual Personal Learning Environments

iPad use in Fieldwork: Formal and informal use to enhance pedagogic practice in a Bring Your Own Technology world.

We report on use of iPads (and other IOS devices) for student fieldwork use and as electronic field notebooks. We have used questionnaires and interviews of tutors and students to elicit their views on technology and iPad use for fieldwork. There is some reluctance for academic staff to relinquish paper notebooks for iPad use, whether in the classroom or on fieldwork. Students too are largely unaware of the potential of iPads for enhancing fieldwork. Apps can be configured for a wide variety of specific uses that make iPads useful for educational as well as social uses. Such abilities should be used to enhance existing practice as well as make new functionality. For example, for disabled students who find it difficult to use conventional note taking iPads can be used to develop student self-directed learning and for group contributions. The technology becomes part of the students’ personal learning environments as well as at the heart of their knowledge spaces – academic and social. This blurring of boundaries is due to iPads’ usability to cultivate field use, instruction, assessment and feedback processes. iPads can become field microscopes and entries to citizen science, and we see the iPad as the main ‘computing’ device for students in the near future. As part of Bring Your Own Technology/Device the iPad has much to offer, although both staff and students need to be guided in the most effective use for self-directed education via development of personal learning Environments

Would Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) be welcomed by undergraduate students to support their learning during fieldwork?

This paper reports student perceptions of the benefits and challenges of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) in a fieldwork context. Student perceptions from six field courses across two institutions have been gathered using questionnaires and focus groups. Whilst a number of studies have focused on BYOD in a classroom context, little research has been undertaken about BYOD in a fieldwork context. The key findings suggest that around one fifth of students were not willing to use their own device during fieldwork citing loss or damage as the main reason. This key challenge is different to that which are found in a classroom which generally focus on network security, connectivity etc. The findings also suggest that some students believe that BYOD can have a negative impact on group work. There is a misalignment here between student and practitioner thinking with previous literature which suggests that practitioners believe BYOD and smart devices can enhance group work. The one key challenge which is found regardless of learning environment is inequality between those who have a device and those who do not

By any other name? The impacts of differing assumptions, expectations and misconceptions in bringing about resistance to student-staff ‘partnership’

Most of the existing literature on student-staff partnership explores the experiences of people who are keen to be involved and who have already bought into the ethos of students as partners. We explore the challenges of conducting student-staff partnership in the context of resistance. Specifically, we focus on the interpretations of ‘partnership’ by students and staff who were attempting to work in partnership for the first time. The views of the participants were captured during a six-month project in which four undergraduate students were employed to work with eight academics to re-design the second-year undergraduate curriculum on one programme. Notwithstanding an introductory briefing and on-going support, some participants showed indications of resistance. Our findings suggest that different perspectives on ‘partnership’ influenced participants’ experiences. We argue that assumptions and misconceptions around the terminology used to describe ‘students as partners’ practice may hinder the process itself, as some people may not ‘buy-in’ to the practice. However, despite the challenges of this project, the experience of being involved has led to reduced resistance and emerging partnership practices throughout the department

Developing active personal learning environments on smart mobile devices

‘Tablets’ and other 'smart' devices (such as iPads and iPhones)have established themselves as a significant part of mobile technologies used in mobile (m-)learning. Smart devices such as iPads and the Apple Watch not only provide many apps that can be used for a variety of educational purposes; they also allow communication between students and tutors and with the world at large via social media. We argue that 'smart' mobile devices enable personalized learning by adjusting to the educational needs of individuals. We refer to Salmon's quadrat diagram to suggest where using mobile technologies should be of benefit to revising our views of pedagogy, making it much more responsive to students' needs in education as well as the world in general. Smart mobile devices now contain computing power to allow voice and face recognition, augmented reality and machine learning to make them intelligent enough to act as tutors for individual students and adjust and respond accordingly. To take advantage of these facilities on mobile devices, pedagogy must change from an institution-centred to a student-tutor-device focus. This is best done via 'active learning' and incorporating cognitive awareness into an educational operating system that can develop with the owner

Student perceptions of iPads as mobile learning devices for fieldwork

This paper reports findings from six field courses about student’s perceptions of iPads as mobile learning devices for fieldwork. Data were collected through surveys and focus groups. The key findings suggest that the multi-tool nature of the iPads and their portability were the main strengths. Students had some concerns over the safety of the iPads in adverse weather and rugged environments, though most of these concerns were eliminated after using the devices with protective cases. Reduced connectivity was found to be one of the main challenges for mobile learning. Finally, students and practitioners views of why they used the mobile devices for fieldwork did not align

Working together with technology to enhance fieldwork learning

Enhancing Fieldwork Learning (EFL) is a multidisciplinary team across three institutions working together with the aim of identifying, evaluating and disseminating good teaching practice in fieldwork environments. We focus on the integrated use of mobile technologies within pedagogic frameworks to develop innovative teaching and learning approaches for students. This chapter sets out our history, team development, achievements and view for the future. Inter-institutional and multidisciplinary working has allowed our project to have broad relevance and impact on higher education (HE). We provide some insight into how informal learning spaces can build confidence for students and staff to enhance fieldwork learning with mobile technologies