Development of a Fieldwork Support System for Group Work in Project-Based Learning

• Published in: Learning and Collaboration Technologies. Designing and Developing Novel Learning Experiences pp. 429 - 440
• Main Authors: Mori, Mikihiko, Tatsumi, Akihisa
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing
• Series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science
• ISBN: 9783319074818; 3319074814
• ISSN: 0302-9743; 1611-3349
• DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-07482-5_41

This paper describes the Fieldwork Support System (FSS) for project-based Learning. The FSS is an essential tool for students who are new to fieldwork activities. They need to take notes on events that occur in the field and reflect on what people did and what they talked about in interviews. In addition, students should collaborate to learn using the data they collected. Therefore, we developed the FSS, which was constructed to use a combination of portable terminals during the students’ time in the field and a Web-based management application upon their return. We also conducted a practical experiment on PBL in which students explored local communities. The results of a posterior questionnaire showed the students enjoyed being able to view their current locations and the locations of data they had collected on the FSS terminal map. However, they had complaints about the user interface.