The project is implementing a novel method of combining mobile communication technologies with social networking software and websites into the biology curricula of several courses at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The innovative curriculum takes full advantage of college students' proficiency with networked communications (e.g., PDAs, cell phones, Facebook, Flickr, and Google Earth) while familiarizing them with field observations and research skills. Students are able to share their observations and data through various online sources by contributing to ongoing research about invasive plant species, plant diversity, plant phenology and plant-animal interactions. By evaluating the experiences, ideas, and attitudes of instructors and students using mobile technologies, this project can inform a wide range of educational institutions on adapting this unique approach for its own curriculum. For example, faculty at UMass Boston are evaluating the technology developed in the project in one day workshops with Boston Public School students and middle school teachers. Data collected and lessons learned are being disseminated via a public website called MobileTechnologiesForTeachingFieldCourses. Ultimately this project utilizes the advances in geospatial, mobile, and multimedia information technologies coalesced with their application to environmental science topics to benefit educational institutions of all levels, Citizen Science programs, and environmental non-government organizations.
Plants are essential for human existence providing most of our food and spices, many of our essential medicines and resources (paper and building materials for instance), as well as many unappreciated ecosystems services including oxygen, clean air and protection from erosion. While students and society at large have some inkling of our dependence on plants, most people are lacking in rudimentary knowledge about plants. We explored the use of modern information tools, including the internet and cell phones, to advance the teaching of plant biodiversity and species identification in the SeeTrees project. As well as producing a society that is more aware of our dependence on plants, we wanted to help prepare students for 21th century technologies. We developed specific tools including 1) a website, that focused mainly on the ability of students to record their plant observations in the field, 2) a location aware tool to assist students during field walks (somewhat equivalent to the self guide tours available in museums), 3) electronic field guides and 4) new ways to visualize the landscape and specific plants using Gigapan images. Approaches were investigated in three courses at UMass Amherst: a classic botany course for majors, a field ecology course in Costa Rica, a landscape design course, and one at course at UMass Boston an evolutionary biology course for non majors. Rapid advances in web services, open source software, cell phones and cell phone apps have reinforced the approaches we studied. Examples include the many plant biodiversity apps available for Android and iPhone smart phones a well as new websites such as GoBotany. We identified the need to have more infrastructure that can link special projects such as SeeTrees with existing courseware to facilitate class mechanics while maintaining easy of use and the adhering to different institutional and departmental policy and privacy norms. Producing high quality botanical content requires many resources. Rather than develop the content ourselves, it would be more efficient to be able to draw subsets of content from other sources such as the USDA plants database, Encyclopedia of Life or the GoBotany website in ways that can be customized for the specific requirements for each class. The content available from these large projects may need to be enhanced and augmented by the instructors to meet the instructional goals of the class. Many groups are exploring the use of citizen science approaches such as we did with recording plants observations. Students like field activities and the hands on aspects increase learning. Improved tools and processes need to be tested before student observations about plants can be readily and reliable incorporated into scientific databases. The ability to easily upload images from cell phones, as one can in iNaturalist and many other smartphone apps great increase the ability to make observations by students. While new technologies are increasing the ability of novices to learn to make identifications, a fundamental understanding of how people make identification remains elusive. Current ideas focus on character based versus gestalt approaches but fundamental research in cognitive science is required before instructors will have the building blocks to make enhance how people learn to identify species. We explored two digital technologies that can provided enhanced experience for students. We used location aware software on mobile devices to alert people to examples they might miss otherwise or replace a tour leader. The in silico expert guide provide some success but the melding of content with software required more time than the project afforded for a tool that can match the experiences student regularly experience with commercial products. We also explored the use of gigapan images to prove a view of both the "forest and the trees". The zooming capabilities of Gigapan images intrigue users but their use needs to be developed in more of a gaming framework to enchance student focus and outcomes.
