Transcript Take Your Class on a Virtual Field Trip

Take Your Students
On a Virtual Field Trip
Eileen Backofen
[email protected]
“In Times of Change…
Learners Inherit the earth…
While the Learned…
Are perfectly prepared for…
A world that no longer exists.”
Eric Hoffer
Field Trips
• Enhance the learning experience
• Expand the thinking process
• Meet the needs of different learning styles
and
They’re Fun!
Get out of classroom
Different learning environment
Why Virtual?
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Destinations are endless
No transportation, chaperones, fees
No weather concerns
No limits of time or place
Students tour at their own pace
Trip can be repeated
They are “Safe” (vft permission form)
But
NO…It’s Not the Same
as Being There
Your travels can
become part of a
virtual field trip
Just take a
digital camera
along
Where Do You Want to Go?
My Online Students Want to Explore:
• Living Systems
• Tours, France
• CrossCountry USA following plot of novel
“Walk Two Moons”
• National Zoo
• Stops on Homer’s Odyssey
• Monroe, Alabama – setting of “To Kill a
Mockingbird”
• Ancient Mali
• Boreal Forest
• Landing Spots of Early Explorers
My Online Students Want to Explore
• India – site of “Riki Tiki Tavi”
• Renaissance England
• Essential Bodies of Water
• Supreme Court
• Life Skills (banks, supermarkets, restaurants, dept stores)
• The Inquisition
• Ancient Egypt
• Care & Positioning of String Instruments
• Pumpkins
Classroom Internet Activities
Websites – billions of them
Example: About Me
Webquest
• Inquiry oriented activity
• Single website with links
• Students assigned specific roles
• Follows a standard template
Virtual Field Trips??
What is a Virtual Field Trip?
• Guided, narrated tour of Web sites
• Threaded pages that students follow with
a single click
• Created by teachers, students or
professionals
• Uses existing websites and custom pages
• Not just a list of websites
Let’s Look at Some Examples
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Virtual Farm
Fireworks
Cryptology
Baking Bread
Dark Ages
Budgeting (184805)
Guide to Great Nutrition
The Story of Milk
You Don’t Have to
Reinvent the Wheel
Professional, teacher & student created trips
are out there for you.
PBS, Educational & Government Organizations, Higher
Ed, Public Interest Groups, & Commercial sites
Webcams
Photos, videos, audio on the web
Search engines help you find resources
But You Can
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Word (Insert photos, links & save as html)
Powerpoint (Publish to web)
Web Editing Software (Dreamweaver)
Trackstar
Web Albums (Photos & Text) Surweb
VFT software (Tourmaker)
Search for video, audio, images,
panoramas
Online Courses
• ETLO (EdTech Leaders Online)
Designing a Virtual Field Trip
• PBS Teacherline
Suggestions from Teachers Creating VFTs
Use PowerPoint for the VFT and incorporate United Streaming clips (observe copyright), web
hyperlinks, webcams and maps
Internet Public Library - just doing a search on geography took me to many new websites.
Organize the websites in a single VFT favorites folder
Create a VFT using the SURWEB http://www.surweb.org
navigate
Directions were easy to read and
If lab computers aren’t available, then create and show the VFT to the class using an LCD and
Interactive Whiteboard.
Google Earth is amazing for showing students where this journey took place and I can actually
insert pictures at certain stops representing landmarks. http://earth.google.com.
Trackstar is a great site and a great way to combine a list of appropriate websites. It allows you to
control where your students are searching. http://www.trackstar4teachers.org.
I plan to use either Word or Powerpoint to build a VFT.
Use Links to webcams so students can look at real life rather than a picture.
Panoramas give a different perspective. You can zoom in/out by using the ctrl and shift buttons.
Main site: http://panoramas.dk
Software
• Tourmaker – Creates a standard interface
• Example
Summary
• Internet is a Valuable Educational
Resource
• Students Need Guidance in Cyberspace
• VFTs Provide this Guidance
• Find Exisiting VFTs
• Create your own.
• You are the expert as to what works best
in your classroom
Contact Information
Website:
www.fccps.org/GM/GMHS/faculty/backofen/
portfolio/index.htm
Email: [email protected]
[email protected]
The following slides contain additional information
requested by session participants
SchoolPad:
The wireless interactive SchoolPad is by GTCO.
Details available from:
Benjamin David
Peripheral Vision
443-309-7215 (mobile)
http://www.peripheral-vision.net
Surweb (Web Album)
Additional Information
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www.surweb.org
Be SURE popup blocker is off
Scroll all the way to the bottom
Get a virtual locker
Write down your locker # & password
Create A Web Page Using Word
Create your Word document as usual with text, inserted
pictures, hyperlinks etc. Then from the File Menu choose
either “Save As Web Page” OR choose “Save As” and use
the drop down arrow in the “Save as Type” window to choose
web page (htm).
Resources Included in Presentation (Edited Handout)
Eileen Backofen’s Website
http://www.fccps.org/gm/gmhs/faculty/backofen/portfolio/index.htm
4-H VT Virtual Farm
http://www.ext.vt.edu/resources/4h/virtualfarm/main.html
PBS Fireworks
http://www.virtual-field-trips.com/TripDetail.asp?t=45
(Tramline – Tourmaker Software)
http://www.tramline.com
Baking Bread
http://www.tramline.com/tours/sci/bake-s/_tourlaunch1.htm
Dark Ages (student created)
http://www.tramline.com/tours/ss/darkages/_tourlaunch1.htm
Trackstar
http://trackstar.4teachers.org/trackstar/
Budgeting (#184805)
Also search by keyword, grade level, subject area
Tracks can be “adapted” and saved.
http://www.surweb.org/
Scroll to the bottom and create your own locker (popup blocker must be off)
Panoramas Worldwide
http://panoramas.dk/