The Benefits of Virtual Field Trips

Most classrooms today experience at least one field trip within the course of a school year. Often, those field trips require extensive planning and funding for the event to occur.  One alternative to live field trips is the virtual field trip. Following is a list of some of the benefits of virtual field trips.

Virtual field trips benefit students, teachers and families. Those benefits include the fact that:

• Virtual field trips are free. 
• They can occur independent of weather conditions.
• They save on travel time.
• Students can individualize their own virtual field trip experience by clicking on links within the agreed upon site.
• Parents can experience the field trip with their children after school hours by logging on to the site at home.
• Virtual field trips can be local, national or international.
• Virtual field trips can accommodate every grade level.
• Virtual field trips, like their live counterpoint, are educational and entertaining.

Some places to experience a virtual field trips are:

• Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
• Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Teachers in the Cleveland, Ohio area can complement Money Smart Week (April 22-27, 2017) with a virtual field trip to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland before touring the facility live. In preparation of the tour, students can engage in money management skills, including counting, sorting, and simple investing (depending on grade level). 

After the tour, students can return to the classroom and discuss their individual take aways about the Federal Reserve and money management. Parents can also experience the money lesson plan, either by chaperoning the Federal Reserve tour or taking the virtual tour with their child at home.

Creativity is key to maximizing the experience of a virtual field trip for students, teachers, and parents.

Free Digital Images Online

Are you looking for free, quality digital images to use for a professional or personal presentation? If so, consider the following sites that feature user-friendly images:

1. Gratisography
2. MorgueFile
3. Picjumbo
4. Pixabay

Once you've selected your photos, you can make a slide show using SlideShowCreator.

Digital and traditional visuals (i.e. posters, charts), provide many instructional advantages, including easy access. Digital visuals are easy to download and traditional visuals offer easy preparation (i.e. markers applied to poster board).

Visuals can also simplify complex information centrally displayed in the classroom for all students to view. They can also accommodate classroom brainstorming depending on lesson plan goals.

Digital visuals do have some limitations, including the cost of often bulky hardware needed to display the images (i.e. projectors, scanners, etc.). Both traditional and digital visuals require the appropriate use of white space, to avoid presenting too much information on one slide or poster.

All visuals can complement the integration of any subject matter. For example, a mathematics lesson can use digital or traditional images of graphs or charts, a language arts class can use digital images for story telling (Yang, Cheung, 2011), physical education can illustrate the correct form of exercises and a school orientation can use a digital presentation of the facility layout for new students.

Reference

Yang, R. & Cheung, C. (2011). Using Microsoft Photo Story for Digital Storytelling in the Language Classroom. Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language, (15) (4) p. 1-9.

The Role of Visuals in Learning

Students tend to learn better when a visual component is present. This also applies to predominantly auditory and kinesthetic learners.

Ideally, students develop visual literacy, where they hone the ability to accurately interpret and create visual messages. They accomplish this through the process of decoding and encoding visual information.

Decoding occurs when students correctly interpret and create meaning from visuals. Younger learners under the age of 12, tend to decode images more literally and by section. Older students are apt to assimilate meaning from whole scenes. Regardless of the age group, simpler images complement better visual learning.

Encoding refers to students creating visuals. This can occur via presentation software, including PowerPoint and Keynote. Other visuals include pictures, drawings, graphs, charts, posters and cartoons.

It's important to note that students from different cultures often interpret images based on their cultural background.

Based upon research outcomes, the effective use of visuals can decrease learning time, improve comprehension, enhance retrieval, and increase retention (Kouyoumdjian, 2012).

When students create visuals, they make concrete references for ideas and can motivate learners through better engagement.Visuals also complement auditory and written information, brining it to life.




Reference

Kouyoumdjian, H. (2012), (July). Learning through visuals: Visual imagery in the classroom. Psychology Today (36) (3).

Questions

1. If you're teaching, do you use slideshows as an instructional tool? If so, what is your favorite digital photo site, and does your school pay for a subscription if it is fee-based?

2. If you use slideshow presentation software, which one do you find to be the most user-friendly?

3. Do you think your colleagues at school, as a rule, are comfortable using slideshow presentation software, including manipulating many of the bells and whistles that complement such software?

How does the software differentiate instruction for different learning styles?

The software is a proven, excellent choice to increase reading abilities in urban students in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. The software allows teachers to design instruction based on the needs of individual students. Both teachers and students collaborate with one another to meet targeted educational goals. The software allows visual learners to "see" the information, auditory learners to "hear" digital stories and tactile learners to navigate the computer software to achieve their desired outcomes.

Does the software increase skills in knowledge reinforcement, concept development, and or problem solving? How?

The software complements differentiated instruction, especially when applied to writing  and listening activities. Knowledge reinforcement occurs through thematic units that incorporate pre-reading, digital story presentation and sequencing, monitoring and predicting.

Concept development and problem solving occur when students and teachers collaborate to meet targeted goals.  

The teacher can also influence knowledge reinforcement, concept development and problem solving by adjusting mastery level goals for each learner.



What is  the name of the company that publishes the software product?

Compass Learning

How will you use this software in your own classroom? Why?

I would use this software to accommodate the various learning styles of my students, especially when teaching reading, writing and listening activities. It's also a good instructional tool to promote collaboration between me as the instructor and my students. The software allows me to adjust the mastery level for each student, which enhances their learning.