Digital Photography and Web-based Assignments in an Urban Field Course: Snapshots from Berlin

Abstract

This paper reflects on the use of digital photography in urban-based human geography fieldwork. It draws on the authors' experience of introducing digital photography into the teaching and assessment of a level 3 undergraduate field course in Berlin. To begin they outline how they sought to use simple digital technologies in order to facilitate student engagement within Berlin and to widen the range of assessment avenues available to students. They concentrate in particular on how it provided the opportunity to develop Web-based assessments. In the second half of the paper they reflect on student experience of the use of digital cameras and Web-based assessment. While acknowledging some of the problems with using technology in this way, they conclude by arguing that digital photography not only enhances the quality of student engagement with urban environments but also provides a way of more effectively integrating the field-, class- and Web-based components of urban field courses.

Keywords:

• Digital photography
• urban engagement
• Web-based assignments
• Berlin
• fieldwork

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank all the students who came to Berlin in September 2004 for their enthusiasm and patience. Financial support was supplied by a University of Southampton Faculty of Engineering, Science, and Mathematics Teaching Enhancement Award, and by the School of Geography, University of Southampton. Thanks must also go to Jürgen Essletzbichler for his contribution to the success of the Berlin fieldtrip, and to Donald McNeill who led the earlier pre-digital fieldtrips to Barcelona upon which the current GEOG 3003 Berlin fieldtrip is based.