"How to" Guideline series is coordinated by Helen Mongan-Rallis of the Education Department at the University of Minnesota Duluth. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions to improve these guidelines please me at e-mail hrallis@d.umn.edu.

Virtual Field Trip Guidelines

By Helen Mongan-Rallis. Last modified October 22, 2006

1. Brainstorm ideas for your project. Decide what it is that you want students to learn and be able to do as a result of this field trip. Caution: Pick a field trip site that is easily accessible to you. Your purpose in this assignment is to teach the class what a virtual field trip looks like, rather than to teach detail about the specifics of your trip. Thus I recommend that you make the topic something really simple, like a virtual field trip of the technology equipment in Montague 108 (our classroom), or virtual field trip of the layout of the Education Department, or virtual field trip of of the UMD Food Court. For the purposes of this assignment, keep your trip really simple!
2. Draft a plan (a story board) for your field trip or guidelines. Include in this:
• A list of photographs that will be included to illustrate the intended concepts (be selective and avoid unnecessary pictures, but also make sure that there are sufficient pictures to illustrate the key concepts).
• Key concepts and points to include in the directions accompanying each photo.
3. Visit the field trip site and take the photographs. Important: To avoid you having to spend much time cropping and editing the photographs, take them all horizontally (ie: don't turn camera on its side) and try to include in the photograph only those scenes/features of an object that are relevant. Take more than one if you think your photograph isn't clear (so you don't have to go back and re-take photos later).
4. Prepare your photos for inserting into your virtual field trip. You may create your field trip using any application you wish. Examples: PowerPoint, Inspiration, Microsoft Word, AppleWorks or you may put it on your website as a web based field trip. Important: don't make the method by which you showcase your field trip be the focus. Instead you should focus on the purpose of the field trip and how you can best share it with others based on your current technology skills.
5. Create the field trip:
• Have an introduction to your field trip (such as the example on desert field trip) telling students:
  • what the trip is about
  • providing any background information that they will need to understand the trip
  • what you want them to be able to do as a result of taking this field trip (your objectives)
  • If appropriate, key concepts that you want them to learn
• Insert the photos into your document, accompanied by notes and questions. The notes should explain what the picture is, and the questions should get students to think about the picture (analyzing it or applying previous knowledge to interpreting it)
6. List any references or resources that you used in preparing this field trip guide. You must include full references or any works cited (images or text that you have used).

Examples of Virtual Field Trips on the Web:

Note: these are virtual trips that are far more complex than I expect you to do, but they show real examples of how teachers use virtual field trips in their classes.

• Desert Field Trip (also see other Tramline Field Trips)
• Saskatoon Virtual Tours & Field Trips
• Virtual Cave in France
• Volcanic Activity in Iceland
• White House Kids' Tour
• Virtual Museums and galleries

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