The University Library provides teachers and students with tablets to support interactive, on-site teaching, which is one of the pillars of blended learning. Although most students have access to a smartphone with a data plan, smartphone screens are often not suitable for studying detailed visual information. In addition, technical support is difficult because of the many kinds of smartphone models. Furthermore, accessing large files requires a lot of bandwidth and a lot of data. Hence, tablets offer an attractive alternative. In addition to tablets, the University Library offers access to ArcGIS and Geoplaza. These software programs offer several ways to visualise spatial data. For example, the development of a city can be visualised using different layers.
The possibilities of interactive teaching with tablets
Currently, tablets are used in a variety of ways each year. Several examples of successful projects are:
- Soil digging in the Veluwe region: students mark the digging locations on a map. During the project, photos of the soil profiles were added to the specific locations.
- The historic city centre of Amsterdam: students execute assignments in the city centre after a short lecture.
- Archaeological research in Eindhoven: students inspect various soil layers in a Roman field and process data from their findings into maps. The maps are enriched with blog posts and images/video.
- Career orientation on the VU campus: students learn about their future study career through the "Your VUture" board game, which can be played everywhere on campus.
Working with tablets as a teacher
We can send PowerPoint presentations directly to a student's tablet and add questions to test the students' knowledge. Students can work together in teams on site and process their knowledge and insights in a structured manner using ArcGIS and Geoplaza. They can work with text, images and video. It is possible to organise (city) walks with students, but it is also possible to monitor students remotely as they carry out their fieldwork. As a teacher, you can provide your students with real-time feedback. Thanks to the integration with Canvas, both students and teachers benefit from a positive user experience.
