1. Electronic Field Notebooks help students and tutors to record data, add information and metadata as well as share their knowledge. Tablet computers, as electronic notebooks, enable students to write notes, make diagrams, add and annotate photographs. This can be done in labs or at home by posing questions that students respond to via their tablets. Such electronic notebooks can be used to explore their own cognitive and educational spaces – individually or in groups. Developing connectivist schemas and tablet computers for geological and geomorphological education Connectivist views suggest moving learners from what they know to what is needed to be known for a given task or objective: ‘to teach is to model and demonstrate, to learn is to practice and reflect (Downes). Downes, S. 2006, What connectivism is Gärdenfors, P. 2004, Conceptual Spaces Kastens, K.A. & Ishikawa, T. 2006 Spatial thinking in the geosciences and cognitive sciences: a cross-disciplinary look at the intersection of two fields. GSA Special Paper 413 Siemens, G. 2006, Knowing Knowledge Brian Whalley, Department of Geography, Sheffield University, UK Derek France, Department of Geography, Chester University, UK Julian Park, Department of Agriculture, Reading University, UK Alice Mauchline, Department of Agriculture, Reading University, UK Katharine Welsh, Department of Geography, Chester University, UK Funded by the UK Higher Education Academy www.enhancingfieldwork.org.uk/ ‘The best geologist is the one who has seen the most rocks.’ is attributed to Prof HH Read in 1940 – so how do we get students to ‘expert’ status? Students needed to be guided in seeing, thinking and behaving like geologists. We have used connectivist ideas (the learning theory that ‘learning consists of making the right connections’, Siemens and Downes) in fieldwork education using ‘tablet’ technology... Metadata Images from digital cameras have associated camera data. Descriptive metadata can be added to provide interpretative information. These keywords help students describe a view they have not been to – by making connections. Metadata from images, tables and diagrams, help link the visual with the written and be linked to the ‘Semantic Web’. You probably know where this photograph (left) is. But what keywords, in a figure caption, would you use for the scene overall? These words have to be carefully chosen. The MPG schema (right) provides a structure. When practiced, this provides students with confidence in their own scene description and analysis (eg Cadair Indris, N. Wales). Examples of field data being used and shared in electronic note-books. Projected dip/strike data ( ‘ Lambert ’ ) Preliminary field sketch ( ‘ Sketch Book X ’ ) Annotated field photographs help students do field sketching ( ‘ Skitch ’ ) Ways of sharing experiences and student activities Thinking geologically (Kastens and Ishikawa): Observing, describing, recording, communicating geological entities Mentally manipulating these entities Interpreting via causal relationships Predicting other aspects using the basics to create new knowledge Using cognitive strategies to develop new ways of interpreting gained knowledge Bloom ‘s taxonomy can be utilised by fieldwork experiences and amplified by electronic field- notebooks and ‘cognitive spaces’ (Gärdenfors). Educational spaces can be amplified by using tablet computers to create Personal Learning Environments (PLE) in their spaces. For poster copy and full references please use the QR code: