Learning in the Field

I bumped into Professor William Maher in the coffee shop at University of Canberra and got talking about teaching students outside the classroom. He handed me a copy of his "Learning in the field : a manual for conducting field classes" (HERDSA gold guide, 1323-4021 ; no. 5, by  M. Manning, J. A. Harris, W. A. Maher and K. G. McQueen). What struck me was the similarity between fieldwork and an on-line course. In both cases the class is conducted outside the confines of the classroom and so has to take into account all the vagaries of the real world, or the virtual world. Also the importance of preparation and of post class review and reflection are emphasized. It is a shame this handy little book is not available on-line.