Hi class!
I really enjoyed Jan Zanetis' article about virtual field trips. With growing technology, students are no longer confined to field trips they can walk to or take a 15 minute bus ride to. Virtual field trips allow teachers to send their students on trips that extend far beyond the constraints of the school bus.
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| image from http://www.conferencingadvisors.com/blog/bid/51916/4-Reasons-Why-Virtual-Field-Trips-Need-To-Be-In-Your-Childs-Classroom |
Jan Zanetis does a wonderful job of explaining the benefits of virtual field trips, as well as how to make them accessible to your classroom. The author also lists many sites that are credible for finding and conducting virtual field trips, both asynchronous (student-led interactive web site) and synchronous (expert-led, real time, video conference). I think it is wonderful that technology allows us to share the worlds wonders, and the experts that go along with them, with our students. Being able to engage students with real life applications and experiences as they are related to the curriculum are the main goals of field trips of any kind. With virtual field trips, we now increase those opportunities by more than 100%. We can take our students anywhere! The author suggests the Baseball Hall of Fame for applications of math and statistics, or the Great Barrier Reef when discussing coral reefs or oceanography. It is extremely exciting to think of how much interest we can instill in our students with these new field trip opportunities.
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I, however, have a few reservations on the matter. Actually, I suppose I see virtual field trips as "second best" to the real thing. Obviously virtual field trips eliminate issues such as cost and travel, but depending on the type of field trip, nothing can replace real hands on experiences. I agree with Zanetis on the matter of virtual field trips creating effective discussions between experts in the field and students in the classroom. Especially for students today, the technology easily melts away during a video conference. What technology cannot melt away, is the ability to hold and feel what the expert tour guide is doing. I worked as an environmental educator at the Smoky Mountains National Park where middle and high school groups would come to the park and were led in real research programs based on their curriculum and standards. The experience of finding and catching a salamander and actually holding it to take measurements and identify species is irreplaceable in the classroom. It was amazing to see students who were indifferent during the introduction become enthusiastic and engaged upon finding a salamander, or catching a unique insect. This
GSMNP website is a great resource about the program and has a wonderful video on Parks as Classrooms.
Virtual field trips have a lot to offer, but not always as much as the real thing. I think that they can be used in the classroom most effectively with the right supplements and hands on experiences.
See you Tuesday!
-Kyleigh
Hi Kyleigh,
ReplyDeleteThat is a great story about your work in Smoky Mountains National Park and a perfect example of why I don't think VFTs are all they're cracked up to be. They are much less like a field trip than watching a video. Though children these days expect technology in the classroom, it is no substitute for actually going out and experiencing the world. You are right to say that they are a good classroom supplement but not a replacement. A field trip is about what you said - kids becoming interested by being able to really physically see and engage with the things you're talking about. Watching an hour long video conference of a guy talking about salamanders wouldn't be near as engaging.
One note, you commented on my blog that you disagree with what I thought about price, and you said here that VFTs "eliminate costs." I searched around google a bit and the cost of installing a fresh VFT setup in a school seems to be around the $8k-10k range. They use some sort of special encoding hardware or something. So there is a bit of initial cost to overcome that I just don't think should be a high priority especially for struggling schools. Personally I don't see why they can't just use something like Skype, which is free.
You also said that we live in Southern California which is obviously full of awesome places to go, but that schools in other states might not have so many options for their field trips. And that is a great point. We live right next to the ocean, a wealth of educational material in its own right, and there are tons of museums and educational stuff for children in the city. But students in rural Illinois might not be so lucky, and its these schools that primarily be looking into VFT as they would get the most benefit out of it.
Seth,
DeleteYou are right about VFTs not completely eliminating costs. My train of thought on that was that it could be worth it if we look at the cost of the field trip per student versus how many VFTs students could take over the life of the equipment. Also remember that there are grants for technology in classrooms from many sources.
I wish everyone had the opportunity to experience first hand the amazing field trips we have in Southern California, or the National Parks, but they don't. It would definitely be an issue school boards would have to evaluate individually as far as the benefits and costs to their school.
Thanks for the input!
Kyleigh
Hi Kyleigh,
ReplyDeleteNice Response to the virtual field trip article. I agree with you that these virtual field trips come 2nd best to the real thing. There is nothing like going out and exploring something with your own eyes and seeing it first hand. I was talking to some of the students last night and we came to the conclusion that these virtual field trips are the way to go if schools are not permitting filed trips of campus anyway. I do agree that they are a great way for students to learn and become interactive, I just hope that students also get the chance to explore "off campus", as I personally feel this is where the excitement begins.