Virtual Field Trips (VFT) Guidelines:
Planning is Key!
3. Be sure to include the VFT in your lesson plans
4. Place a time limit on the trip
5. Be the tour guide - help students pace themselves
6. Consider using a projector and touring as a class (especially if you have limited technology)
7. Consider pairs or small groups if students work on their own
8. Follow through on a plan of assessment for completed student work
9. Have at least one follow-up lesson after the trip
Don’t
*Adapted from Walter McKenzie’s Innovative Teaching - Virtual Field Trips
Suggested sites for students to blog or share with-
Virtual Field trips visited today.
Other places to look for VFT- Pinterest, Google + communities, Facebook, Google Earth map, street and satelite.
Planning is Key!
- Select a trip which has a clear connection to what you are studying in class.
- teach a preparatory lesson before the trip (if necessary)
- preview the site and know the content
- check all links up to three clicks away from the tour
- provide step by step tasks to accomplish
- consider a treasure hunt checklist for students to follow
- students could gather text and images to make a scrapbook
- design a webquest which requires students to complete an assignment
- state a measurable objective for your culminating activity
3. Be sure to include the VFT in your lesson plans
4. Place a time limit on the trip
5. Be the tour guide - help students pace themselves
6. Consider using a projector and touring as a class (especially if you have limited technology)
7. Consider pairs or small groups if students work on their own
8. Follow through on a plan of assessment for completed student work
9. Have at least one follow-up lesson after the trip
Don’t
- Allow students to wander on their own
- Present the site without knowing it in detail
- Go on a trip without classroom preparation ahead of time
- Use VFT’s as an unstructured use of free time
- Complete a VFT and have little or no follow-up - help kids make those connections to their learning
*Adapted from Walter McKenzie’s Innovative Teaching - Virtual Field Trips
Suggested sites for students to blog or share with-
- Peardeck
- Haiku Deck
- Kidblog
- Powtoon
- Prezi
Virtual Field trips visited today.
- 4-H Virtual Farm
- www.airpano.com -Himalayas
- www.360cities.net
- www.mnh.si.edu -Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
- http://www.theteachersguide.com/virtualtours.html
- gated.jason.org -Science Virtual Tours- Must have Aldine credentials and overestimate the number of students you teach so that new students don't have to be recreated
- Connected Classrooms Workshop on Google+
Other places to look for VFT- Pinterest, Google + communities, Facebook, Google Earth map, street and satelite.