How to flip the study trip?

Posted by Natasa Brouwer, on Oct. 5, 2021, 3:04 p.m.

About

Name lecturer

dr. Ivo Blom, VU University Amsterdam

Scale

small group of students 

Content 

Study trip organized in cooperation with the Royal Institute for Rome, ""History on Film in the city of Rome""

A teacher of the Faculty of Arts, in the field of history of film (dr. Ivo Blom) planned a study trip to Rome in co-operation with the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome for 13 students. The students were coming out of different universities, (bachelor 2nd and 3rd year).

The study trip was planned from September 17th – 30th 2012. So in fact, they had two weeks effectively in Rome

Situation before the intervention

Because of the small time frame of 2 weeks, too much information has to beprocessed by the students, plus the development of new skills, to work withdifferent tools.

Because of this time pressure, choices should be made what kind oflearning activities could be spending time on face-to-face. To avoid that allthe energy of the teacher is going to “transfer of   basic information”, if you have the goal toreach a level of deeper learning.

So a challenge for this course is too built in more interaction between:

  • studentsand teacher,
  • students-students,
  • butalso students - content - tools.

Intervention

Because it was the second time thatIvo had to organize this trip, he did bring in some elements he wants toimprove the quality of this trip.

His main goal was to improve the level of interaction in the limitedperiod of two weeks, which should lead to increased student’s satisfaction,thus more positive evaluations on the study trip and teaching qualities of thetrainers”.

For us, as part of theREC:all project team, it was a challengeto discover how different typesof lecture recordings, plus interaction,could lead to improvement of thecourse.

To reach this, wedefined first of all the “lower and higher order learning goals[1]”for this study trip. Lower order learning goals are e.g. “memorize, explain and define”, andcan be learned outside the class. Higher order learning goals are e.g. “create,formulate, evaluate and design”, and needs a context for students “Studentsforget content knowledge if they not utilize that knowledge in a context…“,

  • Learning “lower order goals” in this study trip is in our opinion: understanding better the theories in an early stage of this study trip, via more interactivity with the content
  • Higher order learning goals were:
    • Compare film fragments with realistic situation by film fragments on iPads correlated with GIS data via Galileo app, and make analysis on editing processes of these films
    • Visualize findings in a map, based on geographical information by the creation of new photo/video material connected to location via integration of content in Google Maps
    • Create a presentation for the end of the course and write an essay after the course


[1] Sealfon, C.D. 2012 http://www.princeton.edu/cst/teaching-resources/methods/SciTeaching.pdf

Learning outcomes

The learning goals for this study trip are set on:

•      familiarity with the researchmethods, based on these 3 theories:

  • Insiders/outsiders
  • Cinema and architecture 
  • The film in history

•      students developed the skills to:

  • Compare the space and location in thefilm with the realistic situation
  • Makeanalysis of editing processes
  • Learned how to use secondaryresources and literature

•      At the end of the study trip studentshave developed the skills to contextualize this information in time and space.

Learning process

Prior their visit to Rome, students have to watch 3enriched knowledge clips, as a preparation to the course, to understand(better) in an early stage the basic theories
  • Knowledge clip are used to give an outline of the theory as an introduction to research methods, enriched with literature and extra resources via internet; on each clip 3 questions are added

To compare film fragments with realistic situationin the city of Rome, the film fragments were available on iPads correlated withGIS data, marked by hotspots in aGalileo app, to support learning goals like: demonstrate, illustrate and interpret. Students can make analysisof the editing processes easily via different fragments of movies, because theywere available on the hotspots (marked places where movies has been shot) inRome.
To work with the Galileo app, instruction clips are given to the students prior to the course, togive them the availability to train their skills needed for this study trip.

Regarding to the higher order learning goals,students have to visualize their findings coming out of their analysis on filmmaterial, made in the City. They have to integrate this into Google maps, so itshould be location based via geographical information. Visualizations are acombination of their own produced photo/video material, plus the Geodata in themap.

omgeving van Geoplaza

  • To help students making these analyses, Geoplaza could be used, to have a view by example of changes in the city plan, or growth of the city. This is possible via the transparency of different layers of different maps, lay on top of each other.
  • Analyze and visualize findings location based via different maps of Rome, based on geographical information.
  • Students can visualize their findings via Google Maps
  • Also here, instruction clips have been developed for skills training, students are able to work with Geoplaza and to integrate their own photo/video material into Google Maps (see screenshot of these screencasts below).

To visit the instruction clips, which are produced forthis case study, please go to:

Evaluation

Summarization of the expected results, of this casestudy

  • Better prepared students on atheoretical basis, (better understanding of the theories). This should beproved in their assignments.
  • Better prepared students on the levelof skills. Students do know for e.g. how to embed self produced materials inenvironments like Google maps.
  • Increased  quality of contextualization’s andpresentations at the end of the course
  • More positive student evaluations ofthis study trip

Overall: improvement of the quality of this study trip due to the combination ofsoftware and (en)rich(ed) materials, which lead to a higher quality of interaction between students-students, students-teacher and students-content and tools.

Relation to theframework of REC:all

In this case study we used several elements of lecturecapture techniques, in relation to the learning goals, coming out of thetaxonomy of learning by Bloom. We also did make a relation to “lower and higherorder learning goals” (Sealfon, C.D. 2012), mentioned at the start of thisdocument.

Below the elements we combined out of the frameworkare marked. Examples of the different types of lecture recording are shownbeside the framework[1].



[1] For definitions of the differenttypes, please visit the website of REC:all.

Results/Outcomes

•      Improving the quality of the course

  • The face to face time in Rome isbeing used optimal. A higher level of interaction is realized, because thestudents were better prepared to this trip.
  • Students  and teachers fully can concentrate on thehigher order learning goals.
  • In Rome the students have all thefacilities to make the best out of this study trip, iPads with film fragmentsin combination with Galileo. Geoplazacan be used to analyze the growth of the city.
  • Increasing student’s satisfaction ofcourse and getting more positive evaluations of course and teacher (teachingqualities)
  • The design of the course matchesbetter with the perception of today's students: “Having the right informationand tools available place independent”.        

From teacher’sperspective:

  • He is very satisfied, much more interactionduring face to face time, because the students were better prepared ontheoretical level
  • The quality of the essays improved, they were muchmore concrete

From student’s perspective:

Students aboutKnowledge Clips:

  • I do understand the theoretical information becauseof a combination of Knowledge clips and literature

Students about theInstruction Clips:

  • Because of the small time frame it is very use fullalready having the skills to work with Geoplaza, Galileo and Google Maps. I donot lose time during the study trip in Rome on development of skills… I couldfully concentrate on the content of the course in Rome

Students about theavailability of iPads:

  • It’s so cool to see the fragments of films on thehotspots in Rome itself. Analyzing films works so much better

Students on thedesign of the course:

  • The course is intensive, but very attractive. A lotof interaction between teacher and students, but also betweenstudents-students.


Lessons learned

Production level:

  • For the production of Knowledge Clips, it’s betterto have an autocue. The teacher had to look to often on a paper for the text.Also advised for a short clip of 5 minutes.

Use of iPads in thefield:

  • When it’s sunny outside, it’s not easy to seemoving pictures on screen. For fieldwork it’s better to have “a Sunhood” forthe iPad.

On demand maps andcontent without internet connection:

  • Because internet connection outside your own countryis still expensive, it’s better to load it in the iPad itself. We used iPads of64GB, to be sure of enough memory for uploading material. For the use of mapsin different layers, we used the Galileo app. In Galileo it’s not possible tolay different layers on top of each other, but you can work layer by layer,which is good enough to mark hotspots. The analyzing process of the growth ofthe city for example has to be done by Geoplaza, on places were Wi-Fi isavailable.

What is necessary if other institutions would liketo implement this case study in their institution?

  • Development on level of services is needed forGeoplaza when other Universities (or Faculties within the VUA) would like touse this environment for fieldwork. At this moment it’s only possible tointegrate new cards project based.
  • For enrichment of Knowledge Clips orInstruction Clips (with other learning objects) further development is needed,on a level of authentication. So teachers can log in and enrich their ownmaterials.
  • Train the trainers:to disseminate the use of video in location based learning, or fieldwork.Develop teacher’s skills in the use of Geoplaza, Google maps and enrichment ofKnowledge and Instruction Clips, related to lear


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