Introduction to Virtual Field Trips

Links verified 6/16/2020

Planning

Good planning must precede field trips, real or virtual. Before considering virtual field trips, read a discussion on the topic, " Why Take Field Trips ."

Education World has two articles that you should read before you write your own virtual field trip.

1. Get Outta Class With Virtual Field Trips - Links to field trips of all sorts, from museums to a farm, plus tips for creating your own virtual field trips.

Guidelines

SurfAquarium has a good set of Virtual Field Trip Guidelines , including a nice list of do's and don't's. One excellent suggestion of theirs is that the teacher should remember that they are taking the class outside the four walls of their classroom, albeit via cyberspace, and must provide just as much supervision and structure as they would on a traditional field trip.

Take a look at a sample permission form posted by field-trips.org. This permission form is a .pdf (portable document format) and will require Adobe Acrobat Reader. The purpose of the form is to notify the parent of the virtual excursions so that they might engage their child in a discussion of their online journey. If you think that this is a good idea, as I do, create your own permission form using MS Word.

Evaluation

After the field trip, look back at the experience using the evaluation form provided by Kathy Schrock.