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VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP

A virtual field trip is a guided exploration through the world wide web that organizes a collection of pre-screened, thematically based web pages into a structured online learning experience. (Foley, 2003). Since 2007, another dynamic and interactive form of a Virtual Field Trip has been - and is - freely available. The first was the Pilbara VFT (pilbara.mq.edu.au) with a much more extensive and up-to-date suite of astrobiology related VFTs at vft.asu.edu.

The non-interactive forms of VFT are an inter-related collection of images, supporting text and/or other media, delivered electronically via the World Wide Web, in a format that can be professionally presented to relate the essence of a visit to a time or place. The virtual experience becomes a unique part of the participants' life experience. (Nix, 1999)

Virtual field trips (VFTs) started appearing around 1995 (LEARNZ), but greatly grew in popularity starting around 2000. The VFT was seen as a way to organize the educational potential of the internet in a coherent, appropriate fashion, particularly for primary and secondary education. A VFT can contain a selection of topic-specific web pages that are strung together into a grade-targeted, organized package. Often these types of VFT are provided by commercial distributors, such as Tramline. www.tramline.com

There are a number of different formats used for VFTs and if you do a search on the Web, you will find thousands of trips. Some trips simply consist of a list of links on one web page, while other trips use some type of navigator (or buttons) to move through the tour. Following current pedagogy; in its best implementation, a VFT is a real time guided field trip that is supported by interactive pages on the Web that have been selected by educators and arranged in a "thread" that teachers and students can follow in either lineal or broad searching. The live links with experts on-site in real-time is a key aspect in creating a "real" experience for students. For example with LEARNZ virtual field trips students have asked questions of scientists in Antarctica, mining staff underground and even electrical engineers on the top of wind turbines. Real-time Virtual field trips involve the use of videoconferencing and audioconferencing technologies to permit students in one location to virtually visit and learn about people or places in another location. The use of Tandberg and other sound stations make this form of communication more accessible in education. H.323 videoconferencing is increasingly used for educational virtual field trips, since this connectivity option eliminates connection costs over the commodity Internet.

A Virtual field trip is a simulated, real-time field trip. In the case of interactive video conferencing, "students interact, in a live even, with a remotely located field trip host." Cole, Ray, Zanetis 2004

A virtual field trip for elementary learners is the opportunity to explore and see places, things, and people not normally seen on a typical classroom day. During a classroom virtual field trip, students can explore places across the high seas, states across our country, and many nearby or far away people, places, and things. This is an opportunity to see and experience the world without ever leaving the classroom.

The virtual field trip is cost effective to schools. It eliminates the costs of renting transportation, additional insurance coverage and the cost of chaperons.

Elementary school teachers can explore many virtual field trip options through websites like Discovery Ed. There is a tremendous amount of information on the internet for planning virtual field trips geared towards this learning age. It is simple to find resources by searching the words 'virtual field trip for elementary learners' on the web.

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E LEARNING

learning conducted via electronic media, typically on the Internet:

Advantages:

More Flexible – eLearning can be done in short chunks of time that can fit around your daily schedule. Unlike public scheduled and in-house training, you don’t have to dedicate an entire day to the training that has been organised by your company. Instead, you will have a set amount of learning, normally divided into modules, with a deadline in which to do them in. This way, if you want to do all of the learning in one day as you work better this way, you can. However if your schedule doesn’t allow you an entire day off your everyday tasks – then you can easily spend an hour or 2 here and there at times that suit you.

Mobile – As eLearning can be done on laptops, tablets and phones – it is a very mobile method. Learning can be done on the train, on a plane or any other time that could normally be wasted. Whilst you used to be confined to the classroom, the whole world can now be your classroom.

No Travel– As just mentioned, eLearning can be done wherever you have a device capable of doing so. Therefore again you can fit it in to your schedule, but also save money on the costs of travel. As mentioned before on the public scheduled blog, external courses can sometimes only be sourced in locations far away from your company so you then have to pay the costs of travel as well potentially accommodation. eLearning takes these costs away completely.

Lower cost – As you aren’t using a trainer’s time or any room or equipment, eLearning tends to be the much cheaper option. If you already have a device capable of carrying out the training on, then the savings can be considerable. Therefore if you and your company are on a budget, this can be the ideal option for you.  Equally for companies that have thousands of employees then it can reduce the cost per head especially on areas such as Money Laundering, Compliance and Microsoft Office training.

Tailor it to you – eLearning courses aren’t confined to be fixed to try and suit the needs of the majority. If you feel you already know a particular area well and don’t need to spend an hour on it again, then you can skim over it and concentrate that time on something you feel you need to work more at. Everyone is able to learn at their own pace – a massive factor that only eLearning can provide for.

Technological Possibilities – eLearning is fast becoming a more and more popular method and with it, so has the investment into how to improve it further. The computer based nature of training means new technology is being introduced all the time to help with the learning. Different apps are helping to further reinforce the learning whilst forums can be used to greatly increase the amount of interaction and engagement between learners. This is only going to improve as time goes on as well.

Global – With very few restrictions companies can be confident that their staff can receive the same content regardless of their location, and in many cases, their nationality.  Therefore if you wish to provide the same training or have your staff understand and use common methodology, eLearning is a useful way of ensuring this happens with ease and reduced cost.

Disadvantages

Lack of Control– Learners with low motivation tend to fall behind when using eLearning as there are no set times to be doing it and they are responsible for the organisation themselves. A lack of routine or fixed schedule can mean eLearning becomes complicated with various deadlines often given to different people at different stages of their learning.

Learning Approach – It doesn’t appeal to all learning styles so some learners will not enjoy the experience – especially strong activists and pragmatists.  It is still a challenge to make eLearning appeal fully to these groups as different people learn better or worse using different styles. Some may prefer images, some prefer just reading words and some prefer to talk about or actually do a task in order to learn.

Isolated – A lot of questions are a lot easily answered when face to face with someone when you can guarantee an instant answer. eLearning often doesn’t allow that with trainers often having to answer numerous questions all of the time and only doing it within working hours – where a lot of learners may prefer to do their learning out of working hours. This feeling of isolation can often demotivate individuals as they feel they don’t have the support and reassurance that the physical presence of a trainer provides.

Technology Issues – With heavy reliance on computers that eLearning brings, comes the potential risks that comes with it. Firstly, you need to ensure that all learners have a device that is able to support the training modules. Some eLearning tools require software such as Flash that devices like iPads don’t support. So all requirements need to be set out at the beginning. Poor internet connection and unavoidable general random faults also can interrupt learning and so need to be planned around.  This is especially true if it is a global roll out as Internet connections and power reliability changes dramatically between countries.

Computer Competency – Some employees might not be too comfortable using computers, especially if their jobs don’t require them to. Therefore even if the software is user friendly, the very idea of using the software can be daunting and demotivating for some. Therefore these employees are likely to learn a lot less than they would from a physical course.

Types of E-Learning System

Off the shelf e-learning

You are looking for e-learning which already exists and you can provide to your company immediately.  Usually companies already have an LMS so will add these courses using SCORM or Tin Can. Very popular for compliant and mandatory training, as well as for smaller companies with limited budgets.

Bespoke e-learning

Also know as Customer or Tailored e-learning. Suppliers will build a custom piece of e-learning for the client in the style and fit that they want.

From physical to digital

Transferring your existing internal classroom training into an e-learning solution. Ideal to create a blended learning approach.

Virtual learning

Different to standard e-learning in that virtual learning will run in real time and feature a trainer who is delivering the session remotely. This can be as simple as creating excellent learning webinars or even more technical.

Curation

If you want a platform where you can use your own experience and understanding to find information, filter information and then share information.

Content for your LMS

If you have an LMS and want additional content then let us know as we work with excellent suppliers who will compliment your existing e-learning portfolio.

LMS and learning platforms

We will work with you to understand your solution and help you identify the best LMS and platforms which will improve the way learning is managed within your company.

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History

The first Internet Scavenger Hunt was developed in 1992 by Rick Gates.[1] He was a professor at the University of California at the time. He created the hunt to encourage adults to explore the resources on the Internet.[2] Gates distributed the questions to various Usenet newsgroups, LISTSERV discussion lists, and Gopher and FTP sites.

He offered a prize for successful completion. As time went by he developed themed and then highly challenging hunts like researching a single email address.

The identification of a topic, brainstorming of keywords related to the topic to be used to search for on the Internet, the exploration and reading of the information on web sites, the compilation of questions about the topic related to info on the website and the design of the cyberhunt on the computer provide the learners with various learning and design skills.

HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL CYBERHUNTS
During my involvement with cyberhunts, I started to notice that two types of cyberhunts can be distinguished in what I have labeled as HORIZONTAL and VERTICAL cyberhunts. This refers to the type of cyberhunt or the kind of questioning and exploration of the website visited. A cyberhunt can be defined as horizontal if it complies with the following:

The whole cyberhunt (all the questions) is based upon one web page that has been accessed and the learner will be able to find all the answers on that specific web page. The reading thus takes place on one level. The learner is therefore not required to explore the web site deeper by clicking on other hyperlinks within the website.

Questions within a cyberhunt can also be horizontal if a learner does not have to explore the visited or accessed website deeper, thus, he/she stays on the same level that has been accessed. Figure 1 tries to visually portray the difference between horizontal and vertical cyberhunts. Horizontal cyberhunts could be the starting point for learners as first time users of the web and their introduction to cyberhunts, as well as to novice teachers starting with ICT integration. These simple and low level cyberhunts assist teachers and learners to feel secure in the initial stages and build ICT confidence in both parties. During this stage learners can start to answer the questions on paper. However, the teacher may decide to move from learners that write answers on paper to learners that open the teacher created cyberhunt file from the network or web and then type their answers either in a blank word processor page or under the composed questions in the teacher created cyberhunt in the answer space provided.

FIGURE 1: HORIZONTAL & VERTICAL READING & BROWSING ON THE WEB DURING CYBERHUNTS

A cyberhunt becomes vertical the moment a learner has to explore a website deeper on his/her own to find the answer to the composed question. In practice it entails that a learner is provided with a question and a hyperlink that opens a web page when the hyperlink is selected. However, the learner will not be able to find the answer to the question on that accessed page, but will have to explore the website further by ascertaining whether some of the hyperlinks that can be seen on the accessed web page provide possible clues in their names that indicate that it is a link that can be followed. Alternatively, a learner will have to embark on a step-by-step exploration process of the website to find the answers or by collaborating with a few peers to assist him/her to explore the website to find the appropriate answer.  Figure 1 tries to visually portray the difference between horizontal and vertical cyberhunts. These higher level cyberhunts bring Internet exploration or surfing to a higher level and need some more ICT skills and experience related to Internet browsing (surfing). Normally learners will type the answers on their computer and save it and make a print-out.

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WEB QUEST	A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web. The model was developed by Bernie Dodge at San Diego State University in February, 1995 with early input from SDSU/Pacific Bell Fellow Tom March, the Educational Technology staff at San Diego Unified School District, and waves of participants each summer at the Teach the Teachers Consortium at The Thacher School in Ojai, California. Since those beginning days, tens of thousands of teachers have embraced WebQuests as a way to make good use of the internet while engaging their students in the kinds of thinking that the 21st century requires. The model has spread around the world, with special enthusiasm in Brazil, Spain, China, Australia and Holland. 

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WEB QUEST	A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web. The model was developed by Bernie Dodge at San Diego State University in February, 1995 with early input from SDSU/Pacific Bell Fellow Tom March, the Educational Technology staff at San Diego Unified School District, and waves of participants each summer at the Teach the Teachers Consortium at The Thacher School in Ojai, California. Since those beginning days, tens of thousands of teachers have embraced WebQuests as a way to make good use of the internet while engaging their students in the kinds of thinking that the 21st century requires. The model has spread around the world, with special enthusiasm in Brazil, Spain, China, Australia and Holland. 

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PARTS OF WEB QUESTING
Introduction
The first component provides the learner with background on the WebQuest activity to be completed. It is important that the WebQuest be related to student interests, ideas, or past experiences.

Task
The second component describes what the learners will have accomplished at the end of the WebQuest. The main research question is developed for the learner. The teacher may want to show an example of a completed WebQuest.

Process
During the third component, the teacher suggests the steps the learners should go through in completing the task.

Resources

The fourth component consists of a list of resources, provided by the teacher, that will assist the learner in accomplishing the task.

Evaluation
The fifth component uses a rubric, an established set of rules or guidelines, for evaluating students’ work. It is important that the standards be clear, consistent, and specific.

Conclusion
During the final component, students are provided with the opportunity for reflection and summation about the experience. Students should be encouraged to reflect about the process, to extend, and generalize what was learned.