"Let's Go on A Virtual Field Trip: Constructing Digital Storytelling to Increase Student to Student Course Interaction."

Concurrent Session 3

Session Materials

Brief Abstract

Have you envisioned taking your students on a field trip? But due to lack of funding, this may not be possible within your course. The following session will coach attendees to create an ADA-compliant virtual trip experience that aligns with sample course assignments.

Presenters

Lead Presenter: Amy Dye-Reeves, Texas Tech University

Amy Dye-Reeves is an Associate Librarian within the Texas Tech University Libraries. She is the liaison to the College of Education and Department of History. She provides information literacy instructional sessions and workshops throughout the year. She loves assisting faculty members with any of their upcoming research projects. She received her Master of Information Science from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Additionally, she has a Bachelor's and Master's Degree in History from East Tennessee State University. Before joining TTU, Amy was an Assistant Professor of Research and Instruction at Murray State University. She previously spent 5 years as a certified State of Tennessee Educator with a Pre K to Grade 12 (Library Media Specialist) endorsement. In 2019, she won the Innovators Award from the University of Tennessee School of Information Science. During the spring of 2018, she was selected to participate in a four-month Wikipedia Education Fellowship Program. Research interests include information literacy instruction, learning outcomes assessment, instructional design, and gamification.

Extended Abstract

Virtual field trips (VFT) transport students to real-world places (Woener, 1999). The experience allows each student to connect with global experiences despite monetary restrictions. The connection between the course concepts and lived experiences will enable students to become more invested in the assigned material. (Klem and Tuthill, 2003). In addition, research has shown that digital sites enhance students' connectivity to course materials. ( Klingenberg et al., 2020; Peterson et al., 2020). The session will be using Bigg's (1993) model of Presage, Process, and Product. The framework examines how each student plans, monitors, and evaluates their lived experiences.

During the session, each participant will be using Google Arts & Culture website and will need to self-select one virtual museum or archive for the project. The goal will be to create more student-to-student interaction and interweave integral course concepts ( Cho & Cho, 2014; Sadik & Reisman, 2009; Zheng & Smaldino, 2009). Each participant will need to self-select a group and quickly identify the top three learning outcomes required to complete the mock assignment from a sample list provided by the presenter. (Helms et al., 2011).

 Next, each group will create a group virtual concept map ( Sorensen & Baylen, 2011; Bonk, 2013, Ghardirian, Ayub, Baker, & Hassanzadeh, 2016) to demonstrate the learning concepts held within the course. Finally, the participants will continue to build an asynchronous video experience using Playposit interactive elements of short answers, multiple-choice, etc. Overall, each participant will take away from the experience of creating a virtual field trip using Bigg's model of Presage, Process, and Product for implementation within future ADA-compliant online courses after the session. Upon the conclusion of the session, each attendee will also compete for the opportunity to win prizes. The presenter will also provide each attendee with a digital Flipboard link to take home future ideas and continue the collaboration process with conference attendees. 

Level of Participation

The session aims to model how attendees might build future interactive virtual field experiences within academic courses. First, the presenter will begin by providing previous virtual field trip course examples. Second, each participant will self-select individuals for which to create a digital concept map with a focus on developing a theme and aligning with the sample course assignment outcome provided by the presenter. Third, each group will be using the various functionalities held in PlayPosit to help students design their virtual learning. Fourth, each participant will briefly share their ideas mastered within the session with other attendees. Fifth, participants will discuss how they might teach their students to develop a  virtual field trip experience to teach other class participants.

Each participant will be given a digital flip board link to continue the conversation upon returning home. Finally, each attendee will be competing against each other to win one large group prize. Again, each participant will be given a digital flip board link to continue the conversation upon returning home. 

Session Goals:

  • Each participant will build a virtual field trip experience using Google Arts and Sciences and apply Bigg's 1993 Model of Presage, Process, and Plan
  • Each participant will brainstorm within a virtual concept map using sample course assignments outcomes provided by the presenter
  • Each participant will incorporate and arrange an ADA-compliant virtual trip experience.
  • Each participant will reflect and continue learning through a digital flip board upon returning home from the conference.