The Isle of Rum, Scotland: a physical geography fieldtrip for second year undergraduates studying outdoor environment, education and/or leadership

The purpose of this chapter is to critically review the value for students of geography fieldwork in a remote island context. Second year students spend a week on the Isle of Rum, an island off the west coast of Scotland which forms the finale of a semester-long module. The field trip comprises of two components, a series of short field investigations organized by staff to demonstrate what is feasible, followed by students selecting, executing and writing up a short research project of their own. The module is assessed through various exercises during term time, followed by write-ups of the demonstration days and their own field project. Opportunities exist for students to give informal and formal feedback on their own performance and the value of the field trip. These reflections are then fed back into the module to help improve it for the following year.