Evaluation of low-cost Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) for field data collection and fieldwork leadership by students and staff

Abstract

AbstractThis project evaluated low-cost (< £200, 2006 UK prices) PDAs for use by students in field data recording, and two advanced model PDAs for use by staff in fieldwork leadership. The low-cost PDAs will also, undoubtedly, come down in price over the next year or two, offering the possibility of providing all students with such a device to assist in field data collection and other aspects of their University studies. Improvements in memory capacity will also offer greater functionality for storing notes, handouts, lecture presentations, video and audio files. However, the low-cost PDA models are not waterproof, which is a major drawback for field use. Field use of PDAs offered clear benefits to teaching and learning, particularly as students were able to record their data onto PDAs in Excel, and copy files to a central PDA (managed by a staff member) via Bluetooth. The staff member could then download files to a lap top or desktop docking station and email them to the rest of the students. Data files ...