DCU Home | Our Courses | Loop | Registry | Library | Search DCU
<< Back to Module List

Module Specifications.

Current Academic Year 2024 - 2025

All Module information is indicative, and this portal is an interim interface pending the full upgrade of Coursebuilder and subsequent integration to the new DCU Student Information System (DCU Key).

As such, this is a point in time view of data which will be refreshed periodically. Some fields/data may not yet be available pending the completion of the full Coursebuilder upgrade and integration project. We will post status updates as they become available. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Date posted: September 2024

Module Title Residential Field Course
Module Code GY339 (ITS) / GEO1020 (Banner)
Faculty Humanities & Social Sciences School History & Geography
Module Co-ordinatorJonathan Cherry
Module TeachersKathleen Stokes
NFQ level 8 Credit Rating 5
Pre-requisite Not Available
Co-requisite Not Available
Compatibles Not Available
Incompatibles Not Available
Coursework Only
Description

Fieldwork is an integral part of a geographers training and education, providing opportunities to acquire a huge range of skills that cannot be gained in a classroom setting, while allowing engagement with, and opportunities to better the world. Building on learning and experiences from geographical fieldwork, research and communication skills modules completed in previous years, this third year residential field course provides each student with an opportunity to deploy, refine and augment these core skills and capabilities during an intensive period of fieldwork. Conducting fieldwork in a range of locations including varying landscapes, ecosystems and urban environments, this module creates unique opportunities for experiential learning, as students identify, examine, record, measure, analyse and provide solutions / outcomes to a range of real world themes and issues within the fields of physical / environmental and human geography, facilitating the bridging of concepts and ideas covered in class to the real world. Each student working both individually and in smaller teams, will informed by context based applied learning, design and investigate a specific theme and / or challenge, plan and implement their fieldwork, gather relevant data and information, manage and analyse it, and finally communicate their findings / solutions.

Learning Outcomes

1. Identify and refine an appropriate and achievable research question that can be tackled through fieldwork
2. Work effectively as part of a team, in designing and implementing effective fieldwork
3. Employ appropriate techniques and skills in capturing, measuring, recording, storing and analysing fieldwork findings and data
4. Communicate their fieldwork findings in a range of innovative and original formats
5. Record and reflect in a meaningful manner on their own experience, process and practice of fieldwork



Workload Full-time hours per semester
Type Hours Description
Lecture6Preparatory lectures
Fieldwork32Fieldwork activities and exercises
Class Presentation2Presentation of group project findings
Assignment Completion85Completion of individual fieldwork book and group project
Total Workload: 125

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Assessment Breakdown
Continuous Assessment100% Examination Weight0%
Course Work Breakdown
TypeDescription% of totalAssessment Date
EssayComprised of text and illustrations: drawing upon field notebook and secondary readings and research50%n/a
FieldworkField course notebook50%n/a
Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories:
Resit category 1: A resit is available for both* components of the module.
Resit category 2: No resit is available for a 100% continuous assessment module.
Resit category 3: No resit is available for the continuous assessment component where there is a continuous assessment and examination element.
* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a Continuous Assessment/Examination split; where the module is 100% continuous assessment, there will also be a resit of the assessment
This module is category 1
Indicative Reading List

  • Taylor & Francis Group: 2021, Geographical Fieldwork in the 21st Century, 1, Routledge, 9780367722364
  • Richard Phillips,Jennifer Johns: 2012, Fieldwork for Human Geography, SAGE Publications Limited, 9780857025876
Other Resources

None

<< Back to Module List