Improving Student Learning During Travel Time on Field Trips Using an Innovative, Portable Audio/video System

Abstract

The authors developed a portable audio/video system using consumer electronics to make use of travel time during field trips. This system gives field instructors the ability to deliver PowerPoint presentations, instructional videos/DVDs, and CD-ROMs to students while in-route to field stops. This information technology makes use of the time in-route as instructional time, increases the time students participating in field excursions have in the field to make observations, and expands the use of information technology from being primarily a campus-based pedagogical aid to a field-oriented pedagogical tool that is used to focus the students on the academic objectives for upcoming field stops. Student interviews indicate that: a.) the use of this technology was a positive experience, b.) students perceived that the DVD and PowerPoint media helped focus their attention on upcoming field stops, and c.) the use of the devices increased the total time they had outside the vehicle for study. Instructors using the technology to show interdisciplinary media observed enhanced student assimilation of topics relevant to various courses of study on an extended interdisciplinary, field-based educational program.