Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Journal 7: Beginners guide to interactive Virtual Field Trips (NETS 2)

Zanetis. J. (2010). Beginners guide to interacting virtual field trips. L&L Publications, 37. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=March_April_No_6_1&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&NavMenuID=4516&ContentID=25443&DirectListComboInd=D
This article was centered on the process and idea of interactive virtual field trips. During this article the author discussed the different forms of virtual field trips as well as how someone could find them and access them. The two types of virtual field trips discussed were interactive and Asynchronous. Asynchronous virtual field trips are not live feeds but contain videos and sites where you can see videos and tours of the museums and so forth. One of the sites listed was efieldtrips.org. Interactive virtual field trips on the other hand are real time life feeds. These virtual field trips usually take place over video conferencing technology and can be connected to museums, offices and a variety of other places. This allows students to have a firsthand look and tour of these educational places and allows them to ask questions to the coordinators if they arise, thus allowing them to interact one on one with the tour guide. The author recommends the best way to get started is to find out if your school has video conferencing capabilities then simply find what educational institutions and museums offer such video virtual tours.

How can this be used in the classroom? This can be used in the classroom in a variety of ways. A teacher can do virtual tours of a museum to learn about history or even see a scientist do an experiment if the resources are not readily available at that school. Using these virtual tools one won’t have to find transportation, time, and money sending the children to these actual venues. With cuts in budgets this seems to be a very beneficial alternative idea.

How could these virtual field trips be transformed to work with all abilities of students? One idea that I thought of is trying to see what venues could do hearing impaired virtual tours possibly in sign language. This would help those students who were hearing impaired or special needs. Other transformations and add on to the technology might also help those who might have sight or learning disabilities.

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