In my role as module organiser for the flagship Year 1 field course for environmental students to Snowdonia National Park I pre-screen all the students to identify accessibility issues and/or learning disabilities (hidden) to enable me to develop a bespoke learning and/or supportive environment.
“Restrictions on timetabling and availability of field centres means that occasionally field trip coincide with Ramadan or part of Ramadan.
I've never been concerned about where the toilet stop was in the field, even if I had my period, I just accepted it was tough.
We always ask students to highlight things that might impact them during fieldwork. This student wears two hearing aids which in the class room can pick up the Induction Loop. However, in the field there is no additional 'technical' help.
Before our fieldtrip we identified that one of our students had autism. With the student, and in this case the parents, we created a risk assessment to identify particular triggering points and also how to deal with the student if issues occurred.
In the recent past I have had to work through the details of an overseas, residential fieldtrip field trip with individual students, carers and support services to assess its accessibility given the characteristics and needs of the students.
As part of my role at the OU I have to deliver a field day. I chose a site in the Lake District as I thought it would be a nice place for students to spend time and there are a diverse range of Environmental Science topics I can cover in one day.
No, the title is not a request for a lie-in! I have found over the years that attendance on fieldtrips can be impacted by the start and end times of a trip.
As part of my research into the effectiveness of teaching methods into disaster risk mitigation in Dominica I organised a field session around the (small) city of Roseau. This fieldtrip took place in April 2018 after the entire island had been badly affected by Hurricane Maria (in September 2017).
I organised a first year, start of year field trip for 120-200 new undergraduates in the UK (various destinations).
Whilst it is important that field leaders consider EDI during fieldwork it is always a bit difficult to work out who is ultimately responsible.
I was involved in a fieldtrip, it was just a day trip, where we took first years out to the countryside.
We know that having a clear itinerary is important for inclusivity and students like to know what is happening, when it is happening as well as being aware of toilet stops.
Risk assessments often consider the physical side of fieldtrips (for example: uneven terrain/access to water/shelter, etc.).
There are two other ways in which I’ve seen hearing impairment approached in the field.
When I worked with another university, we discussed sign-language in geoscience.
For students who have struggled to get to a particular area due to mobility issues we have set up a little computer network or wireless computer network and then used that as an infrastructure for some communication tools.
I think there is a bit of politics around fieldwork.
We have developed a virtual microscope that allows students to, virtually, look at various rocks under polarised and unpolarised light.
When we take our students on overseas trips, we like to bring UK students and local students together.
I run a fieldtrip that requires a fair bit of a walking around a location which is a bit hilly and slippery in places.
We have had students who have been unable to attend trips or have had to miss out sections of a trip due to the physical terrain.
This does not specifically relate to field work, but it is an initiative we have included in our induction week programmes.
I work a lot with our final year students and hold a lot of student supports meeting with faculty.
Something that we have trialled quite recently, on our optional fieldtrips, is to allow students to submit their work individually or as part of a group.
It is very easy to make assumptions about the background of students, particularly those students coming into first year.
With residential fieldtrips we tend to emphasise the community/social side of the trip: that students can get to know their peers better and it is viewed as a bonding exercise.
With residential fieldtrips we tend to emphasise the community/social side of the trip: that students can get to know their peers better and it is viewed as a bonding exercise.
One of the aspects of fieldtrips I struggle with is accommodation. Normally we have a lot of room with high occupancy (6 to 8 students in a room).
In the field we often expect students to keep field notebooks and sometimes these fieldnote books form part of their assessment.
Increasingly we are seeing more students with mental health issues and students who do not want to participate in fieldwork due to anxiety.
More often than not we are faced with mental health issues that are not at the extreme end of the spectrum (for example: anxiety, mild depression).
I have a lot of field teaching experience through university but also working for an NGO.
Fieldtrips are expensive and so often we try to cram as much in to make maximum use of the time together.
Our first fieldtrip with our first-year cohort is within the first 3 weeks of the programme.
We ran a second-year field trip in the UK and had a student who needed to use a wheelchair.
We are quite lucky at our university as we have funding to support widening participation.
An observation we have made recently is around students from perhaps city environments (who may not have had as much interaction with the outdoors as others) and international students is that they do not really appreciate what to expect from UK fieldwork.
Frequently we see advertised on degree programmes that “field work is the best bit of the degree”.
Often fieldtrips require a written record of activities that have taken place during the day and often this is in the form of a field notebook.
When I was an undergraduate, a lot of my field classes involved being marched around and the lecturer pointing at things and tell us what they were.
In our department, we have several trans-students coming through the degree scheme.
Some of the key equality, diversity, and inclusivity issues we’ve identified in relation to fieldwork are sexuality, trans and gender identity, disability, mental health, neurodiversity, religion, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and care obligation (in addition to other protected characteristics).
Something that we used during COVID lockdowns for geological mapping was based on what is called ‘lowland mapping’ from the British Geological Survey.
We’ve started making a lot of supplementary digital resources to help students get familiar with things like lab equipment before they go into the labs.
Whilst it is important that field leaders consider EDI during fieldwork it is always a bit difficult to work out who is ultimately responsible.
I've been out in the field with a student who had a severe hearing impairment.
I think one of the things about making fieldwork inclusive is to offer different ways of accessing the content.
I’ve been on a fieldtrip where I have been the only female member of staff.
