Abstract
The main focus of this article is on digital excursion formats at universities and their advantages with and without pandemic-related restrictions on teaching. The development of the application, its didactics and feedback from students are demonstrated using the example of the urban geography excursion developed as part of the 'InExkurs' project at the University of Tübingen. Compared to traditional overview excursions, digitally guided formats allow students more flexibility, autonomy and independence in the implementation. Aspects of gamification and location-based games can be used to increase motivation and, in combination with individual navigation, create associations with scavenger hunts. The use of extended reality on mobile devices enables a diverse application of digital information on site: the use of historical maps and photos as well as the integration of (fictional) characters is exemplified using the developed digital urban geography excursion. The first feedback on the excursion showed that the majority of participating students appreciated the digital format and would like to participate in excursions in this or similar formats more often.
Highlights
In recent years, the development of digital and mobile teaching content in schools and at universities has increased significantly and has1 3 Vol.:(0123456789)KN - Journal of Cartography and Geographic Information received a further boost by the impacts of the Corona virus pandemic
These digital alternatives have some advantages over classical overview excursions: in addition to the increased flexibility and independence of the students, the technology of extended reality in particular opens up possibilities to convey information and impressions to students on site that would remain hidden otherwise (Joan 2015; Stintzing et al 2020)
Excursions—"The teaching and learning 'out on site'" (Dickel and Glasze 2009, p. 3)—and the associated work in the field form "the heart of geographical work" (Meyer 2006, p. 134) and are taking on an important role within studies in geography: through primary encounters in the field, excursions enable a vivid transfer of complex knowledge, which is usually taught in abstract form in lecture halls
Summary
The development of digital and mobile teaching content in schools and at universities has increased significantly (cf. Witt and Gloerfeld 2018, p. 1) and has. In addition to the exemplary presentation of the use of the presented digitally guided excursion, a reflection of the excursion and its contents takes place based on the first feedback from participating students All of this illustrates why digital excursions have great potential for both. Teachers and students even without the forced use of digital teaching formats due to COVID 19 In this context, the focus of the article is not on the technical implementation of the digital excursion, but rather on illustrating an example of the didactic implementation of a digital excursion guide in a university context that draws on concepts of digital and playful knowledge transfer using forms of extended reality. After an introductory overview of the advantages of digital excursions and the use of extended reality for teaching, the project ‘InExkurs’ will be presented in order to illustrate the possible implementations of digital excursions using examples from the project and feedback from participating students
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