Virtual Field Trips allow 21st century educators to take our students where the school bus can’t.
Students can visit any location in the world through virtual field trips! They are both fun, engaging, and
allow students to experience things that are not feasible for an actual field trip. Imagine studying about
Egypt with your students. It is very unlikely that you can take your class on a plane all the way across the
world to visit Egypt itself, but students benefit immensely from real experiences and connecting new
knowledge to real world situations. Virtual field trips would make it possible for your students to “visit”
Egypt and take a look around! Not only will students learn the academics, but they will develop an
understanding of other cultures and how other people live around the world. They also attend to students’
social and emotional learning.
Students can visit any location in the world through virtual field trips! They are both fun, engaging, and
allow students to experience things that are not feasible for an actual field trip. Imagine studying about
Egypt with your students. It is very unlikely that you can take your class on a plane all the way across the
world to visit Egypt itself, but students benefit immensely from real experiences and connecting new
knowledge to real world situations. Virtual field trips would make it possible for your students to “visit”
Egypt and take a look around! Not only will students learn the academics, but they will develop an
understanding of other cultures and how other people live around the world. They also attend to students’
social and emotional learning.
Like most things, virtual field trips have both advantages and disadvantages. Advantages of virtual field
trips include “traveling” to places not possible for a field trip, exploring at the speed of your
students/independently, low cost and often free, safety, enrichment, engagement, and personalized trips
that line up with standards and content. Disadvantages include not being able to replace the actual
human senses, student ability to work with the technology, and internet access. Most of these
disadvantages can be fixed, however. You can bring in things such as food, clothing, and other objects of
the place/culture you are visiting to meet the needs of the 5 senses as you are taking your virtual field trip.
You can also incorporate digital citizenship and use of technology into your curriculum so that students are
familiar and comfortable with the technology that they have access to. Students can always be taught how to
use the technology necessary, and sometimes they know more about it than we do!
Teachers can choose virtual field trips from an amplitude of resources or even create their own. Skype, trips include “traveling” to places not possible for a field trip, exploring at the speed of your
students/independently, low cost and often free, safety, enrichment, engagement, and personalized trips
that line up with standards and content. Disadvantages include not being able to replace the actual
human senses, student ability to work with the technology, and internet access. Most of these
disadvantages can be fixed, however. You can bring in things such as food, clothing, and other objects of
the place/culture you are visiting to meet the needs of the 5 senses as you are taking your virtual field trip.
You can also incorporate digital citizenship and use of technology into your curriculum so that students are
familiar and comfortable with the technology that they have access to. Students can always be taught how to
use the technology necessary, and sometimes they know more about it than we do!
ClassFlow, 360 Youtube, and Google Earth are just a few of the many programs you can use to create
your own experience. Always search, search, and search for experiences that are perfect for you and your
students!
your own experience. Always search, search, and search for experiences that are perfect for you and your
students!
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