Our Thoughts

Virtual field trips are useful cause anywhere that you want to take your students is possible. All it takes is a little imagination, and from there with some unique teaching it can be a really helpful process. Any and all experiences are possible and it can be done over days and weeks instead of maybe one day. So to me virtual field trips are great alternate to help in teaching.
-Paul Salvatore



Virtual field trips are the schooling technique of the furture. I really enjoyed learning about them. One thing that really caught my eye about virtual field trips as apposed to regular ones is that you are able to go places like outter space or antartica. they are free and on normal field trips students would not be able to vist places such as these. itswas also very intriguing to find out that basically anyone could create there own virtual field trip. This I have to say is by far the most interesting topic we have talked about so yet.
-Kimberly Davis



Learning within the barrier walls of the classroom are not longer the case. Virtual field trips are now being used by teachers across the nation. They are being used to break the chains of tradional teaching. No longer are students confined to only reading about history or just hearing a teacher lecture to them about it. Now they are able to take virtual field trips back in time and stimulate what land mark events were really like. It forces them to take an active, hands on learning approach and information is given to them in many different aspects. Now students with specific learning styles are all able to learn the best that they can and this is the most important job for a teacher!
-Jennifer DeHetre


I feel that taking a virtual field trip is a great idea for teachers. Virtual field trips are designed to be entertaining and educational. There is no time involved in travel and no money that has to be spent. The website will provide the field trip and all you have to do as the teacher is make it fun! You can go practically anywhere when taking a virtual field trip, and they provide opportunities for new discovery to be explored in the classroom.

Many students like virtual field trips better than going on a field trip because they can do it at their own pace and aren't sitting in a room listening to someone with a monotone voice talking to them. Anyone who can navigate through computers can create a virtual field trip, even students. Students get excited to visit places that they normally would never be able to visit.
-Cassie Sanderson



I like the way this articles mentions the positives of a virtual field trip. No money, no hassles, its what everyone would love to have. Its also more useful than going on actual field trips because many students can't afford to go. Its nice for some students that want to learn and that are excited to learn about new places and they can go to them virtually. I also like that this article put links to where you can make your own virtual field trip. Its an effective way for students to learn about places without paying or stepping out of the classroom.
-Myrianette Figueroa


In the article, "Get Outta Class With Virtual Field Trips" by Sherril Steele-Carlin, she explains how virtual field trips take students out of the classroom without ever leaving the classroom. Virtual field trips (VFTs) also "provide opportunities for new discovery in the classroom."

A high school student named Emily gave her personal testimony about a virtual field trip being "better than listening to a boring speech about exhibits." Emily goes on to say how much she enjoyed the VFT because she could take her time looking and exploring. She wasn't rushed through each exhibit. This reminds me of my ninth grade field trip. We went to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington, DC. We were given a 4-page worksheet and told to answer all the questions by going to the exhibit and reading the information. The task was overwhelming and chaotic. I was so busy hurrying to get the questions answered that I was robbed of any learning. The trip was a chore. A field trip is designed to be learning experience, but if the trip isn't fun, you might as well forget it!

The article listed many links to existing VFTs. I went to one called The JASON project where the group's goal is to increase the learning of young students in the area of science and weather. They also offer online professional development, workshops, and coaching to teachers who want to be qualified to use JASON in their classrooms.

The article mentions software called Tour Maker that assists a user in creating a VFT in an easy, inexpensive way.
-Judith Hintz



Instead of having a classroom filled with restless students aching to get outside, why not actually a take a feild trip? Perhaps your class does not have the sufficient funds available you say, then why not take a virtual feild trip on the computer? The web provides the resources, you provide the fun. Virtual field trips have accompanied every grade level and are springing up all over the Internet! Trips range from the simple, such as a photo tour of a famous museum, to extremely detailed and high-tech field trips that offer video and audio segments to make the visit more interactive and allow the students to feel more involved. On a virtual field trip, you and your students can go just about anywhere on Earth -- or on out into the solar system. Any teacher, or student, who is even remotely computer knowledgeable can create a virtual field trip. It's as simple as taking a camera along when the class goes off on a field trip. Take plenty of photos, then upload them to your computer and add them to your class or school Web site. There, you've created your first virtual field trip. Teachers Education World talked and seemed to really enjoy using and creating virtual field trips with their students. Students seem to value them as a way to learn about places they might never get to visit. "I decided that the World Wide Web offered an excellent way to access these places, events, and opportunities," said Gary Gillespie, a Seattle teacher who has created a number of virtual field trips for his students. "Students can explore the sites and use the information and pictures for reports or speeches."
-Paige Knorr