Student access to resources was variable
Students having limited or no access to electronic resources (i.e. electronic device and internet) was another major challenge to be faced. The original plan was to make use of a class set of iPads and to use the school-based internet for uploading data and photos, and for viewing results. For loading data anonymously (essential for an activity involving school students) the Epicollect5 system uses a free mobile App; this means that at home the students needed access to a mobile device of some kind, preferably with location turned on (for mapping) and with access to Wi-Fi or data for uploading their observations.
Between 2016-17, 91% of Australian households with children under 15 years of age had access to the internet and 91% of these connected households used computers or mobile phones, whilst 66% of households also connected to the internet using tablets (ABS 2018). These statistics indicated that although a large proportion of the students would have internet access, a small number of students may not. This would impact the overall effectiveness of deploying this type of citizen science project as it relied on entering data into an online tool. The way the project was delivered to the students by the school was via an online learning platform.
To overcome this challenge, a version of the learning resources that could be printed out was provided to the students. These resources included background information and instructions on how to conduct the project as well as data entry sheets that would enable the students to collect data and then submit the information to their teacher or online when they eventually had access to an electronic device.