Each year, more than twenty student researchers in the MSc Engineering Geology program at the Technical University of Munich take advantage of the Fulcrum for Education program to study and map landslides in the Austrian Alps. As GPS and GIS technology replaces paper maps and handwritten notes, these students are being trained to use modern field data collection tools and techniques in their landslide mapping courses.
Understanding landslides
To understand the processes inside a landslide, it is important to record all morphologic structures inside the motion area. As a part of their coursework, students develop their own Fulcrum applications to collect this information. The full semester course includes a week long field study where student researchers go through the process of using the apps they designed to map the geotechnical conditions on a major landslide in the Austrian Alps. Data collected from the field is loaded into GIS software for additional study and analysis.
Fulcrum in the classroom and in the field
Integrating Fulcrum into coursework has introduced several additional, unexpected benefits beyond exposing students to mobile data collection technology.
- The interface for generating apps provides an intuitive way to demonstrate database setup and rule-based programming.
- Implementing categories derived from industry-approved standards helps reinforce students’ memory of key terms and definitions.
- Setting app rules in a warm, dry classroom or lab makes students responsible for recording essential quantities in the field.
PhD student Lukas Paysen-Petersen, who uses Fulcrum to record potential landslides in the Bavarian Alps, highlights one key benefit. He explains that “ticking the boxes” feels satisfying from a demonstrator’s perspective. This system simplifies data collection compared to traditional methods requiring students to write on fragile, dirty, or wet notebooks.
Cooling off after collecting data in the Alps
Providing access to the Fulcrum platform for educational institutions continues to be a priority of ours. We love hearing about all the innovative ways folks are reimagining fieldwork for research, so be sure to join the conversation @fulcrumapp.