Presentation 4 LT5

Title

Virtual field trips: Experience a field trip in the online world

Author(s)

Karin Orth, School of Natural Sciences
Samantha Lake, School of Natural Sciences
Michael Roach, School of Natural Sciences
Bronwyn Kimber, School of Natural Sciences
Phillip Sansom, School of Natural Sciences

Subtheme

Excellent teaching engages students and encourages them to learn

Presentation Type

Presentation

Room

Lecture Theatre 5

Time

13.00-13.15

Abstract

A field trip is one of the most useful methods for teaching natural science. Excursions allow the student to see natural features at a range of scales and experience contextual relationships in three dimensions. We sought to provide the field trip experience for online students by creating a virtual field trip using Panotour software. The virtual field trip began with larger-scale images, obtained using drones, within which we spatially referenced immersive, full-spherical panoramic images from which it was possible to drill down to the fine detail of modern 3D-image capture technology.

Our virtual field trip illustrated and reinforced Earth Science aspects of a breadth unit called XBR112 Humans: Earth Shapers. We took students to two different locations on Tasman Peninsula, and set them tasks at each site. We provided additional online resources to help students work through the tasks.

Virtual field trips, like this, are useful for enhancing in-the-field-learning and illustrate real-world examples where students can step through and investigate physical features in an online learning space.

References

Reference for breadth unit : Humans: Earth Shapers (XBR112)