Fieldwork is a critical component of ecology education, offering hands-on experience that solidifies theoretical concepts and develops the skills and knowledge that graduates require. It also creates an environment that can foster connection and inclusion for diverse student cohorts. In traditional curricula, students generally wait until later years to get ‘into the field’ as field experiences are expensive and logistically difficult to curate, particularly for large cohorts of first year students.

We used bespoke mobile technology, to structure asynchronous learning experiences outdoors and enable field trips without the traditional logistical constraints of transport and staffing. The University of Melbourne’s experimental mobile app called ‘Field Friend’ was used as it allows instructors to set up a GPS-guided ‘learning trail’ through a specified field site. Using Field Friend, we created location-specific media and tasks to support small student groups to complete learning trails at three locations in the Melbourne metropolitan region. These field experiences gave students an opportunity to apply what they were learning in lectures, connect with their peers, and learn field skills like observation and species identification. In 2022 and 2023 our large cohort of first year students used their mobile devices to successfully participate in these self-guided field trips.

After the deployment in 2022, the app went through significant redevelopment using students’ feedback. Consequently, student satisfaction with the technology went from 49% in 2022 to 80% in 2023. Students overwhelmingly (98%) agreed that these field-based experiences improved their knowledge of flora and fauna, increased their confidence for future field-based learning opportunities (90%) and that learning in this way was more effective for them than a classroom alternative (83%). Encouraged by this feedback, we are continuing to evaluate the design of Field Friend supported activities and embed this approach to getting more first-years outdoors.

As universities increasingly pivot toward online delivery, driven by cost-efficiency and the rise of generative AI, field-based learning in ecology is quietly being sidelined. The COVID-19 pandemic offered a glimpse into this future: widespread disruptions to fieldwork left many students graduating with limited hands-on experience, affecting their confidence and job readiness. In some institutions, the shift is justified by the assumption that internships or workplace learning can substitute for staff-led field experiences, an approach often driven by cost-cutting rather than pedagogy, and one that overlooks the educational value of guided, peer-supported fieldwork.
Unlike many internships or volunteer roles, university field trips typically expose students to a wide range of taxa and ecological contexts. This helps develop skills in ecological reasoning, data interpretation, and collaboration. Writing reports based on their own data not only deepens scientific reasoning and confidence, but also provides a form of authentic assessment and a highly valued employment skill.
This presentation draws on both academic and industry experiences and perspectives to explore the potential consequences of students graduating with minimal exposure to real-world ecosystems, and of assessments that may no longer reliably reflect student understanding. We argue that over-reliance on existing datasets and models risks disconnecting students from the sensory and contextual richness of ecological systems, where scent, sound, and subtle interactions reveal potentially important complexity that only becomes apparent through time spent immersed in the environment.
We contend that the current trajectory may erode both the confidence of educators in assessing student learning and the competence of the next generation of ecologists and educators. This talk invites reflection on what we stand to lose if we continue to prioritise cost over experience, because immersive learning matters for graduate readiness and institutional resilience.

Fieldwork-based activities are effective means of teaching about biodiversity because they provide students with direct experiences of organisms and ecosystems. Despite this, prevalence of fieldwork-based education in ecology has progressively declined over recent decades. Here we present a case-study of the development of a new unit of study, Measuring Biodiversity (WILD2001; n = 25) as part of the Bachelor of Wildlife Conservation (Taronga) degree restructure. The unit was fundamentally designed with a philosophy of maximising hands-on and fieldwork-based learning opportunities for students. Co-designed and taught with the University of Sydney and Taronga Conservation Society Australia’s University Programs team, this second-year subject exposed students to expert scientists from the University of Sydney, Taronga Zoo, and the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, who shared experiences and challenges of measuring biodiversity in their respective fields. Students were then provided with practical experiences (mostly outdoors), and fieldtrips (single-day and multi-day) that enabled them to immediately apply practical skills and theoretical concepts in situ. Supported by staff and student reflections from informal mid-semester surveys and formal end-of-semester surveys, we highlight how these pedagogical approaches developed job-ready ecological skills, enhanced students’ interest in pursuing environmental careers, fostered positive connections between staff and students, and built a sense of ‘cohort’ within the student body. All these elements drove strong engagement and satisfaction within the student cohort. We end by discussing the anticipated challenges we will face when these experiential learning experiences are scaled up for future larger cohort sizes.

Field-based learning is a cornerstone of ecological education, offering students experiential opportunities that enhance understanding of complex systems, foster critical thinking, and develop practical skills. Here, we present the results of a literature review about the benefits and challenges associated with fieldwork for students. Despite its well-documented educational benefits, we found that fieldwork presents substantial logistical, financial, and pedagogical challenges for educators. Importantly, when literature was analysed longitudinally, we found that many of the main challenges have not changed over the last 20 years. We use this review to consider how we as an Ecological Society can overcome some of these challenges so that our students can continue to be provided with the field opportunities needed to develop essential ecological skills.