GUIDELINES FOR DEVELOPING MOBILE TECHNOLOGY TO SUPPORT NOTE-TAKING IN UNDERGRADUATE FIELD TRIPS

Note-taking in undergraduate field trips involves a combination of raw data collection and documentation of ideas; It is "the practice of writing down pieces of information to fulfil two major functions: to record information and/or to aid reflection" (Boch and Piolat, 2005). This paper describes ongoing research that is exploring the use of mobile technology to facilitate note-taking activity in undergraduate field trips. It presents the results of qualitative studies conducted with two undergraduate student cohorts participating in different field-study settings: 60 Geography students attending a 1-day field trip in a rural setting; and 22 Architecture students conducting in an urban setting. Observation and analysis of field notes taken by each group and follow-up interviews with students from each group were used to determine the methods and the tools that the students use to capture and share their field study notes. This information was then used to identify user requirements and guidelines for developing mobile technology to support the note-taking activity in different field study contexts.