Connecting to places near and far in virtual field trips: from Aotearoa New Zealand to Iceland

Abstract:

COVID-19 has increased the need for educators to articulate the outcomes of field education and consider how we might attempt to achieve them in remote learning environments. This has ramifications for both urgent field design and increasing accessibility and inclusion in the field at all times. Many traditional field outcomes reach beyond the content, by immersing students in the sights, sounds and realities of scientific work whilst connecting them to rich and diverse places. How might we strive to achieve that sense of place and immersion when students are not traversing outdoors, but sitting at a desk and looking at a computer screen? We offer approaches from three distinct virtual field experiences (VFEs) designed and iterated with a view to developing sense of place, informed by relevant theory and prior work in traditional field environments.

In our synchronous New Zealand VFE, we immersed students in the environment with field videos containing frequent location information, participation in a live Q&A session with experts in the field, and with personal connections through a near peer student on the trip. The video materials were reused asynchronously alongside an instructor led Google Earth tour to maintain links to people and places. In our asynchronous Iceland VFE and other New Zealand VFEs, sense of place was supported by Google Earth map locations including geological data, introductory 3D fly-overs using DEMs and satellite imagery, Structure from Motion 3D models and 360 videos.

Learning analytics and student perception data indicated that students enjoyed learning from and were highly engaged during all three VFEs. Furthermore, students reported higher engagement and motivation with the videos and 3D visualization in the Iceland VFE than they had felt in more static learning environments. Instructors found the asynchronous VFEs easier to implement technologically.

These design elements have been utilised to develop a sense of place in a variety of locations and also helped to prepare students for subsequent engagement with these field sites through workshops and flipped classroom models. Strong connections to people and place have the potential to build more authentic and resilient field experiences that support the inclusion of all geoscience students, during COVID-19 and beyond.