Design, development and student evaluation of a Virtual Alps Field Guide

Figures & data

Table 1 Field locations and number of students participating.

	Glaciers Noir and Blanc, France	Morteratsch glacier, Switzerland	Castle Creek Glacier, British Columbia
Field visit years (July)	2003, 2004, 2005	2007	2008
Staff	T. Stott (LJMU) N. Mount (BB^a) A. Nuttall (LJMU, 2005 only)	T. Stott (LJMU) A. Nuttall (LJMU) N. Eden (LJMU)	T. Stott (LJMU) P. Owens (UNBC^b)
No. students	2003: 4 LJMU 2004: 4 LJMU; 1 BB 2005: 13 LJMU; 1BB	14 (LJMU)	3 LJMU 1 UNBC
Students in LJMU Cohorts	75	80	80
% of LJMU cohort on field visits	2003–4: 5% 2005: 17%	18%	4%

^a BB = Birkbeck College University of London;

^b University of Northern British Columbia, Canada

Figure 1 Virtual Alps Home Page showing simple design with navigation menu (left).

Figure 2 Basic template upon which each of the field sites is based.

Figure 3 Combined Student Preliminary Evaluation of VirtualAlps VFG, 2009.

Figure 4 Combined student preliminary evaluation of VirtualAlps VFG, 2009

Figure 5 Overall student preliminary evaluation of VirtualAlps VFG, 2009

Table 2 The positive (+) and negative (−) aspects of two approaches to VFG design

IT technician develops the VFG entirely, with guidance/direction from academic staff

+ Technician has web skills to give the VFG a functional and accessible look and feel.

+ Technician’s time is booked and once you come to the ‘front of the queue’ the job gets done quickly and efficiently.

−the technician retains control and academics can be frustrated because they are not able to make simple changes or updates to the VFG in years subsequent to its development.

−technician may not have visited the field sites so may not have the same familiarity as the academic.

−technician leaves for a new job and it can make it difficult to access/update the VFG until a new replacement is trained.

Academic staff train-up and develop the VFG entirely with guidance/support from IT technician

+academic retains control so has the ability to update, fix problems or add to the VFG in future after new sites are visited

+academic has spent lots of time at the field sites (sometimes several visits or seasons) so has an appreciation of the processes, changes over time etc.

− academic staff usually don’t have the web skills, or the time to learn more than the basics so the VFG has an `amateurish’ feel.

−big time gaps between training and implementation of Dreamweaver skills meant that time was spent re-learning the basics and making errors.

−academics carry out administration, teaching, fieldwork and research and find it very difficult to prioritise the time to spend learning the skills and developing the VFG

−academic less likely to leave for a new job - or even if new institution, likely to stay teaching the same subject matter so likely to retain an interest in the VFG and develop it further ??