Mobile Technologies in the Field

iPads - Rescuer or Rescuee?

Abstract

Universities are being swamped by waves of emergent technologies and the emergence of iPads is the latest 'state-of-the-art' mobile device to receive attention. While a number of iPad trials and initiatives have been conducted within the confines of classrooms, for example, Bond University, University of Melbourne and Adelaide University (Brand & Kinash, 2010; Jennings et al 2010; Cross, 2010); far fewer have been conducted in the field, see Duke University's use of iPad as a field research tool (Winograd, 2010). This study reports a faculty's trial to explore how far iPads could be integrated into a field setting for training of paramedic students in Wilderness Medicine. As it turned out, the remote setting for the exercise presented a number of challenges for the coordinators. Questions that needed to be considered included how "mobile" is the iPad?, How can it be used to support and enhance students' learning in the field?, How far could the iPad be extended where Internet connectivity is intermittent? The iPad trial highlighted a lack of a "common language" within the faculty as a basis to collaborate and design learning activities. It provided impetus for an ongoing series of conversations amongst the coordinators and others in the Faculty about design approaches and the need for a pedagogical framework to integrate technologies that support teaching and learning activities.