About

What was ERA?

The Enabling Remote Activity (ERA) project provided opportunities for mobility-impaired students to fully participate in fieldwork learning activities. Field-based activities were regarded as essential to the development of a range of professional and personal skills for undergraduate students within geography, earth, and environmental sciences. Students were taught investigative skills that enabled them to interpret features within the landscape, establish technical skills such as sketching and the use of field equipment, and learn to collaborate with peers. It was widely recognised that students enjoyed field activities, and these facilitated deeper learning and understanding. However, due to issues such as cost and access, students did not always have the opportunity to participate in fieldwork. By using mobile and communication technologies, ERA provided practical solutions to the challenges of fieldwork accessibility.

How did ERA enable fieldwork?

Open University students attended residential field trips as part of their undergraduate Geosciences degree. For a number of mobility-impaired students, it was not possible to access some of the field locations. In response to this, ERA developed a rapidly deployable, lightweight, battery-powered wireless network that was used to transmit video, audio, and high-resolution still images between a field geologist and a nearby student. Our students got as close as they could, ideally within sight of the location, and used the wireless network to work remotely with the field geologist. In this way, technology was used as an enabler to facilitate the inclusion of students in field trips without compromising the learning objectives of the course.

Did it really work?

The remote activity approach was in use on The Open University Ancient Mountains residential course, a one-week series of field trips in locations throughout the Scottish Highlands. These courses were run biannually. To date, three mobility-impaired students had completed this course using the ERA equipment, one in 2006 and two in 2008. The equipment was available for loan from the Disabled Students Office for other courses within The Open University. This approach was incorporated into the development of future fieldwork courses by The Open University Science Faculty.