For students who have struggled to get to a particular area due to mobility issues we have set up a little computer network or wireless computer network and then used that as an infrastructure for some communication tools.
Over the years we have trialled a range of technologies, but the key bit is enabling people to have conversations because the discussion and observations are the key elements of a field course. So, most of the improvements in technology we have focused on over the years has centred on improving ways in which the conversations can be supported. This approach does take a bit of co-ordination but as we have been back to the same field sites, we now know what we are doing in advance. As every student is different, we do need to check in advance, but we are able to plan and prepare many aspects in advance now. This approach also only works well for small local areas. If you have got huge areas to cover, you need more mobile infrastructure rather than setting up your own infrastructure.
