Field notebooks are an instrumental tool for geologists. However, they pose challenges for students with physical disabilities, mainly related to limited fine motor skills or because of the need for assistive mobility devices to navigate field sites. Students with diverse physical abilities cannot always effectively handle the pencil and paper approach to typical field notebooks. A GEOPATH project led by a team of researchers associated with the International Association for Geoscience Diversity and funded by the National Science Foundation brought together a cohort of undergraduates with and without physical disabilities examined the use of iPads and other mobile technologies to record field observations on projects ranging from stratigraphy to field mapping. These trials occurred in northern Arizona in 2016 and western Ireland in 2017. Throughout each of the projects, several advantages and disadvantages of electronic field notes were observed, ranging from functionality to cost. The benefits included rain resistant notes that were stored and shared in the cloud, the ability to annotate images to immediately add to notes, carrying fewer tools due to available apps, and GPS services to accurately determine exact outcrop locations. Several disadvantages were also noted, such as the cost of the iPad and apps, battery life, sun glare, and the technological competency of users new to utilizing mobile devices. Despite these disadvantages, this novel approach to a classic field task successfully improved student engagement, allowing them to equally participate alongside their peers. Methods:A survey was conducted after the field experiences to better understand the students perspectives on the effectiveness of digital field notebooks, if they believed that they helped promote inclusive field research experiences, limitations of these notebooks, and suggestions to further increase inclusion for all physical ability levels of students in the geosciences. The survey consisted of 17 questions. Familiarity and comfortability questions were rated on a 10 point scale; short answer spaces were provided for responses focused on specific likes/dislikes or advantages/disadvantages; and multiple answers could be chosen for questions asking which apps worked better or worse for specific tasks.Graph 1: Average familiarity with iPad usage prior to and after the GEOPATH project on a scale of 1 to 10. A 13% increase of familiarity prior to GEOPATH 2016 and post GEO-PATH 2017 was found (7.4/10 familiarity prior to and 8.5/10 familiarity post GEOPATH experience). This suggests that students are capable of learning and building comfortability with new technology in the field in relatively short periods of time with moderate assistance.

Field research for students with physical disabilities can be difficult because of the inaccessibility of most natural field locations. Although a student may have difficulties physically reaching a field location, he or she can still be involved in research initiatives by accessing the field site remotely by utilizing new technologies to participate and record observations. Remotely accessing physically inaccessible field locations can greatly influence future field research initiatives. A two year GEOPATH project in 2016 and 2017 led by a team of researchers associated with the International Association for Geoscience Diversity and funded by the National Science Foundation, brought together a cohort of undergraduates with and without physical disabilities to better understand how new field-based communication technologies can improve inclusion of all students in the natural environment. Although there was limited success with typical communication devices such as walkie-talkies, the most success was found with the implementation of several Local Area Network towers which provided students with the ability to live-stream from one field location to another. In addition, the use of video cameras to record inaccessible field locations, and mobile devices to instantly share and annotate images made remote access an appealing and practical option. These technologies increased inclusion for students with physical disabilities, promoted increased social interaction between students, and emphasized the importance of collaboration, both within and between groups.Field research is an important component for all geoscience programs, but for students with physical limitations it can be difficult due to the natural inaccessibility of many field locations. A two year GEO-PATH project in 2016 and 2017 led by a team of researchers associated with the International Association for Geoscience Diversity and funded by the National Science Foundation, brought together a cohort of undergraduates with and without physical disabilities to better understand how new fieldbased communication technologies can improve inclusion of all students in the natural environment. During the two years of the project, undergraduates spent 10 days in Arizona in 2016 and Western Ireland in 2017 to trial typical field based communication technologies and more modern communication to understand the benefits and limitations for inclusive field research endeavors. Some of the locations visited in Arizona included the Grand Canyon, SP Crater, and Meteor Crater, while in Western Ireland field locations included Killke, Renville Point, and Connemara Recess. Methodology:A survey was conducted after the field experiences to better understand the students perspectives on the technologies used, i f they believed that they helped promote inclusive field research experiences, limitations of the technologies, and suggestions to further increase inclusion for all physical ability levels of students in the geosciences. Students rated their personal satisfaction with t...