Promoting botanical literacy with a mobile application - CampusFlora - using an interdisciplinary, student-as-partners approach

Abstract

In this article, we describe our students-as-partners process for bringing undergraduate and academic staff together to develop a mobile application (app) - CampusFlora - for use across our campuses. Our project at the University of Sydney, Australia, was conceived as a way to improve the botanical literacy of biology students by engaging undergraduates to develop online maps of plant locations coupled with information relevant to biology curriculum. Through continuous improvements to the CampusFlora app system, we have expanded the user-base well beyond the life science student cohorts and now offer content that embraces cultural competence and organisational health initiatives. We offer reflections from student and staff partners on the project that highlight the value of the students-as-partners approach, and the potential value of establishing student partnerships across disciplines, across institutions, and into the community at large.

Citizen Science in Australian Higher Education: Emerging Learning and Research Communities

“…In doing so, the team transformed The University of Sydney grounds into a rich and immersive learning space primarily for botany and engagement in participatory science, where the 'problem definition' was set by the participating students. In concert with the development of this first non-traditional research output, the team built a CampusFlora WebApp (campusflora.sydney.edu.au) to better manage the botanical data collected and formed a further collaboration with engineering students leading to the development of an Android version of the mobile app (Quinnell, Wang, Pettit, Cheung, & Barker, 2015;Dimon, Pettit, Cheung, & Quinnell, 2019).…”

“…The CampusFlora team formed new partnerships and collaborations across the university growing from roots in botany, to shoots into other disciplines, all the while seeding new opportunities for collaborationsome of which have blossomed into new projects across science and the arts (Dimon et al, 2019). In 2015, CampusFlora expanded into the ecology curriculum, where the citizen science project ClimateWatch (ClimateWatch.org.au) was being employed (Cheung, Wardle, & Quinnell, 2015).…”

Implementing technology in science teaching – what are the gains?

“…mApps: In 2012, I partnered with an undergraduate student and professional staff on a mApp -CampusFlora; which hit the AppStore in 2013 (Pettit et al, 2014). Designing an app in partnership with students (aligned with students-as-partners approach (Healey et al, 2014)) allowed us to become 'collaborators' rather than 'students' and 'staff' (Dimon et al, 2019). Here, technology acted as a collaboration catalyst shifted from academic-led learning design to student-staff co-design.…”