We considered that a series of virtual field trips (VFTs) to sites around the world would allow us to present students with complicated real-world situations, with which to practice critical analysis skills. The VFTs envisaged are neither tutorials nor field/lab exercises. Rather, they are meant to be complex, multi-faceted representations of a past or current civilization and how it affects or is affected by its environment.
A goal of the VFTs is that through consideration of their experiences, students arrive at novel associations that lead to dynamic in-class dialogue about the material presented and a deeper understanding of the intricacies of the situation in the field.
This article describes the process of assembling a VFT, and analyzes the technological and didactic choices the process requires.
the Association of American Colleges and Universities published a report outlining the learning goals of a 21st century college education (LEAP, 2007). The four learning outcomes deemed essential for students were ‘‘(1) knowledge of human cultures and the physical and natural world, focused by engagement with big questions, contemporary and enduring, (2) intellectual and practical skills, including, inquiry and analysis, [and] critical and creative thinking... (3) personal and social responsibility, including, intercultural knowledge and competence, and foundations and skills for lifelong learning... and (4) integrative learning demonstrated through the application of knowledge, skills, and responsibilities to new settings and complex problems.”
A principle of cognitive science is that new information must be meaningful to the learner in order for learning to take place (Ramasundaram, Grunwald, Mangeot, Comerford, & Bliss, 2005).
Although not a substitute for a real field trip, we considered that virtual field trips (VFTs) might be the ideal pedagogic tool for soils and civilizations courses because they could permit observation of a human experience through the presentation of a scenario, use media to create a rich, exploratory, multi-modal experience that is not possible in a unidirectional presentation such as a text, and because they could expose students to unfamiliar situations and/or places so that they would better understand the complexities involved and thus have the background to critically analyze the situation
Thus, the purpose of the present article is to describe in some detail the process we used to create a VFT that incorporates exploration, interactivity, and a variety of learning processes.
A well-designed VFT, involving maps, images and video clips in a variety of formats, could however help students imagine what a real field trip to the site would be like. In addition, a VFT could give a sense of time travel or depict geo-temporal changes that could not be seen in a
real field trip.
A VFT should be able to convey a sense of the geographical setting for the trip including geological formations and political boundaries, and how these have evolved over time in response to changing external conditions. It must clearly show cultural adaptations to the area and the changing environmental situation. It should stress through illustration, concepts, such as sustainability, cause and effect, the complexity of interrelated systems, and the existence of multiple solutions to challenges, rather than the accumulation of facts. Finally, we wished to introduce elements of exploration, interaction, analogy, and abstract reasoning into the VFT to promote multi-modal learning
We also had to define the limits of the VFTs; that is we had to clearly state what would not be included. For example, they are not meant to be tutorials on basic topics covered in the course, therefore concepts such as sustainability, or what defines a civilization, would not be explained in the VFTs. Similarly, lessons about how to critically analyze a situation would occur in class rather than in the VFTs.
Site selection: the Chinampas of the Basin of Mexico
Five criteria were identified for site selection:
(1) the site must be a localized or clearly circumscribed geographical/geological area that presents well-defined challenges to intensive agriculture,
(2) it must be associated with an historically important civilization,
(3) an agricultural innovation that was relevant to the rise of the civilization should be associated with the site,
(4) one should be able to evaluate the practices and costs required to sustain that system of agriculture, and
(5) there should be enough information available to present a multifaceted picture of the people, and their socio/political condition.
At this site, the effects of environmental decline due to the introduction of agricultural practices developed for different climatic conditions (e.g., Castilian dryland farming) and the pressures of urban expansion are clearly visible, as are efforts to reverse the decline and preserve the vestiges of the system.
Preparation of VFTs
the structure of the VFT should be as close to a real field trip as possible, by considering where we would go and what we would do with a group of student if we were actually able to take them on location (Cox & Su, 2004). Towards that end, we created a number of stops for the students to visit at the site to impart a sense of travel. Each stop, however, was carefully chosen to meet a particular learning goal within the VFT design criteria.
The point is that the stop should seem natural to the setting, so that students can envision themselves on location.
The final stop is designed to illustrate the types of environmental decline (historic and current) that have occurred in the basin as a result of draining the lakes and/or of population/urban expansion. The stop simulates a visit to the Ecological Park of Xochimilco, and includes information about current attempts to restore and protect the remaining chinampas and canals of Lake Xochimilco. A library stop is also available where students find references, further information, and links to other web sites about the chinampas or Xochimilco.
Although the students are free to jump from stop to stop at any time, the text is intended to function as a guide for the ‘‘trip” and to highlight the connections between socio/politico issues and environmental or agro-ecosystem sciences at each stop. The concepts of complexity
and inter-connectivity are developed by introducing some of the same issues at each stop (e.g., water quality), but discussing them from a different point of view, or conversely, by discussing how the topic of the stop (e.g., history, agriculture, tourism, environment) is impacted by the issue.
Preliminary information gathering Among the resources identified through this process was an extensive collection of contemporary and historic maps including publicly available satellite images from NASA. Cornell faculty and colleagues, especially those who were known to have worked in the area, were contacted for unpublished information and advice. Friends and family who had lived in the area were also canvassed for information and local contacts. Eventually we located a guide from the tourist bureau of Xochimilco who is an active participant in local citizen groups working to preserve the chinampas and protect the canals and traditions of Xochimilco. This guide turned out to be one of our most important resources. In numerous telephone calls in which we explained our project and what we were trying to do, he would mention sites and/or activities that we did not know about despite our library searches.
After the initial phase of information gathering, it was decided that a 3-person team from Cornell (including a videographer) would travel to Xochimilco to secure photographs and video footage at the site. Preparation for this trip was facilitated by the local guide
Virtual field trips
Choice of tools
Therefore, the site was designed to be web-based (global access), centered on simple HTML templates and formats (cascading style sheets), and compartmentalized and hierarchical, so that the design could easily be reproduced (Fig. 2). Media (e.g., video clips, slide shows, animation)
were used judiciously to support or describe concepts that are difficult to convey any other way. Commercially available technology was used as much as possible, with creative modifications when necessary, to suit our purposes.
the text was used to mediate learning by acting as a tour guide and narrating the story. A central glossary page was created to serve as a ‘‘pop up” reference for the chinampa trip as well as future trips. Consolidated resources are more sustainable for authors and offer greater accessibility for students using text readers.
As in any travel to a foreign location, maps were necessary to illustrate geo/spatial relationships. In addition, we wished to use a number of historic maps to demonstrate how human activity had modified the landscape over time by draining the lakes and canals and then building over the dry lake beds (geo/temporal relationships).
Students are presented with a complete view of the map along with zoom controls that allow access to a broad range of views. A dynamic navigator window provides referential context to the entire map while students zoom in and out of areas of interest.
Opacity sliders were added to allow comparisons of any combination of layers. A reset control is provided to revert back to the initial settings. The detailed information in the maps is not removed, which makes overlaying the maps visually confusing at first. However, there is early evidence that the number of maps and the intricacy of the information compel students to spend more time with the maps until the spatial/temporal relationships they are exploring become apparent.
Animated sequences were used to implement abstraction-based learning by illustrating abstract concepts or concepts for which images were not readily available or that cannot physically be seen, such as the (largely underwater) building of a chinampa (Fig. 4) or the movement of water down the soil profile during the wet season and up the profile by capillary flow in the dry season.
We felt that evenly spreading various non-text materials would better sustain the viewers’ interest, as suggested by Cox and Su (2004). Benefits of the final information architecture are that it is flexible and extensible, and non-linear but organized.
Lessons learned
- Plan well, but stay flexible and take advantage of serendipitous outcomes while collecting and preparing content.
- Multimedia has high production cost overhead; therefore use it where it can have the most impact.
- Quality content development takes time. Plan for adequate time and resources.
- Prioritize and focus resources on the core deliverables and lessons.
- Modular design allows greater versatility and extensibility.
- Copyright accesses require considerable time and effort, therefore, the more ‘‘first hand” images or open access material you can collect the better.
Realization of learning goals
After viewing the VFT, they considered that they had a good sense of the geology and geographical changes that had taken place in the region over time, had a reasonable sense of the site’s history and value, understood how the Chinampas had evolved, had a good grasp of the soil and agricultural issues relevant to the site and understood the complexity and history of the current problems. The positive self-assessments of their level of understanding were supported by their answers to the true/false and multiple choice questions about the site, which had a mean of 93% of correct answers.
Conclusions
developing a virtual field trip for a multidisciplinary course, indicates that this process is involved, time-consuming, and costly. The use of multiple, carefully selected, media resources in VFTs is able to engage students intimately with the subject matter. Students appreciate the opportunity that is given to them to individually explore and overlay topics as diverse as environmental science, history, and world cultures, to arrive at novel associations and a deep understanding of the intricacies of the concept of sustainability. VFT stimulates higher cognitive processes, and facilitates the learning outcomes.
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