Abstract:
Virtual fieldwork, real-world communities was funded under the Research and Enterprise Services pump-priming scheme and was led by Eileen Scanlon and Sarah Davies. Ann was a member of the core team, alongside Trevor Collins, and the research was carried out by a team of four OU Associate Lecturers: Joanne Craven, Heather Kelly, Snezana Levic and Stephen Bater.
Fieldwork has long had a respected place in education at all levels, however, in the face of a simultaneous decline in participation in ‘real-world’ fieldwork and a rapid increase in the range of analogous and alternative online ‘field’ experiences, we felt there remains a gap in our understanding of how the principles of fieldwork apply across different communities and the ability of alternatives to replicate and extend the social engagement offered by real-world trips.
The project therefore investigated three questions: (i) to what extent can an alternative fieldtrip be a shared experience? (ii) what is the role of fieldwork in building learning communities? (iii) what is the role of different technologies in shaping analogues of traditional fieldwork?
Speaker bio:
Currently Lecturer in Astrobiology Education with AstrobiologyOU, Ann’s role is to create, in collaboration with stakeholders, educational resources that integrate the research of the group. Long-serving IET members might remember Ann from a few years ago, when she was a member of the OU Catalyst for Public Engagement with Research. As a researcher in public engagement with research and science communication, she has worked alongside researchers in the sciences, life sciences, health and well-being studies and the humanities to develop transdisciplinary engaged research.
Dr Ann Grand, AstrobiologyOU, The Open University, UK
email: ann.grand@open.ac.uk
twitter: @ann2_g