During the recess week of Semester 1, Academic Year 2007/2008, Dr Carl Grundy-Warr conducted a 'learning journey' to Cambodia with a primary aim to expose students to an intensive learning experience whereby they would visit a variety of field-sites and meet with various people as a quick way to learn about real world problems in the country. Part of the journey was organised in collaboration with a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) called the Fisheries Action Coalition Team (FACT) which works with many fishing communities in the Tonlé Sap (or Great Lake) and other parts of the country.

A CDTL Teaching Enhancement Grant enabled this non-assessed 'learning journey' to incorporate a participatory student-produced video film and web-log. Three students (Yikang, Chinthaka and Shamraz) were directly involved in the entire process of the video's production, with aid from a professional cameraman and film editor (Liam Morgan). The remaining students (Deng Hang f rom China , Jack f rom Canada , Dominique from Germany, Blerina from Sweden, as well as Matthew, Jared, Hui Shi, Zhang Yang, Pei Qing, Li Min and Wee Siong from Singapore) were participants who contributed to the film's contents and the main contents of the web-log.

Using digital images and video as pedagogic tools required a lot of planning, preparation and dedication, all of which demanded a lot of time especially from already very busy NUS staff and students! The students were amazingly skilled with multi-media tools. Thus, they could apply some of their technological knowledge and skills to field trips and fieldwork settings. There were numerous benefits arising from this experience. Firstly, students involved in making the film really had to focus on what they wanted to show others from the 'learning journey'. This meant working on a detailed storyboard and working out their interviews with students, practitioners and ordinary Cambodians (aided by our t ranslators-Mak, Honey and Puthea). Secondly, student participants were also considering what their contributions to the web-log should be. This meant serious postfield trip ref lections and questioning their own observations and experiences. Thirdly, everybody was able to use the images to reconsider and discuss the places visited and the people we met. As Latham and McCormack (2007) put it, "technology enables the creation of a sense and space of engagement at distributed and disparate sites" (p. 253). Thus, film and images helped us re-examine numerous aspects of our shared journey, which like most fieldwork, is a highly situated practice.

Shamraz, one of the student film crew, testing out the camera

Finally, the 'learning journey' was a fascinating pedagogic exercise. It was particularly interesting to see how it enriched both the cognitive and affective domains of learning. As Boyle (2007) observes, "Affective activities are processes that deal with emotions, feelings and values; they lead to perceptions of learning tasks (or moods) that help to determine students' approach to learning activities" (p. 301). Our 'learning journey' helped stimulate students' interest in the natives' daily struggles and made students more aware of important issues in human existence. For instance, students became particularly interested in the histories and experiences of Cambodians whether we were visiting the notorious torture-death Khmer Rouge prison of S-21 (also called the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum), a contemporary 'f loating village' on the Tonlé Sap, or playing with children in a marginalised shanty dwelling in the city.

After the journey, the f irst draft of the f ilm was shown to a class of students taking GE3210 "Natural Resources: Policy and Practice" to generate discussion about the project and issues such as l ivel ihood, secur ity, environmental sustainability and natural resource management in the Tonlé Sap. In addition to this, we are in the process of making a short film in Khmer to be used by FACT to help raise funds to support projects relating to the fishing villages in the lake. Thus, our CDTL-supported journey continues to generate creative ideas.

Dr Carl showing a map of the “floating community” of Anlong Raing in Pursat,
Cambodia, to a group of students on one of the house-boats

Pei Qing, one of the student participants, being interviewed on camera at
S-21 in Phnom Penh

References

Boyle, A. (2007). 'Fieldwork is Good: The Student Perception and the Affective Domain', Journal of Geography in Higher Education, Vol. 31, No. 2, pp. 299-317.

Latham, A. & McCormack, D.P. (2007). 'Digital Photography and Web-based Assignments in an Urban Field Course: Snapshots from Berlin', Journal of Geography in Higher Education, Vol. 31, No. 2, pp. 241-256.