Field work is common practice in many of the programmes taught in the Faculty of Environment and Technology at UWE Bristol. Field work engages learners in authentic activities, helping them to experience and appreciate the environments they will (hopefully) work in after graduation, and learn how to deal with the situations, issues, people and ideas they will encounter in their professional lives.

From a student’s perspective, however, undertaking field work is not always problem free. It can be difficult to hear the lecturer speaking, for example, particularly if you are on a busy street corner or on a windy remote moor. Equally, if you are the lecturer straining your voice and struggling to be heard, field work can be quite a challenge.

Using a new app, In The Zone, learning materials and tasks designed to facilitate learning can be delivered to students’ smartphones when (and only when) they visit locations specified beforehand by the lecturer. So straining to hear or be heard is no longer necessary.