This paper explores how a fully online program at a primarily residential university developed an experiential learning field trip to align with university and department strategic plan goals. The development, organization, and assessment of the field trip experience is discussed in detail. In addition, data were collected from student and faculty…

Virtual reality technology has made significant advances and is now widely recognised for its potential to provide fully immersive experiences that have relevance to many aspects of life, including education. This paper explores the effectiveness of VR technology for situated experiential education by adopting a user experience (UX) theoretical…

In this article, the authors share a unique science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) online field trip structure developed for high school students. The ninth-, tenth-, and eleventh-grade students who participated in the virtual field trips were from multiple high schools. This article focuses on two virtual trips that the authors…

With the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting contact restrictions, conducting field trips to hydrological research basins became close to impossible. Hydrological field knowledge is an essential part of hydrological education and research. In order to impart this knowledge to students of hydrological engineering subjects in times or…

The advanced visualisation and interactive capabilities make immersive virtual reality (IVR) attractive for educators to investigate its educational benefits. This research reviewed 64 studies published in 2016-2020 to understand how science educators designed, implemented, and evaluated IVR-based learning. The immersive design features (sensory,…

Experiential learning exercises, such as field trips, are a common pedagogical practice in geoscience curriculums. Their purpose is to facilitate the transfer of knowledge gained in a classroom or lab setting into a field setting, but can be considered a barrier for entry into the geosciences for those with disabilities, caregiver/employment…

This mixed-methods study involved implementation of virtual field trip (VFT) projects in an online undergraduate foreign language (FL) course, with a close focus on four student participants' use of VFTs over four weeks. Participants explored an Italian city using desktop virtual reality; narrated their experiences, and created an annotated…

The fieldtrip has long been a key component of the geography curriculum, described as a 'touchstone' for learning in, on and about place. Learning on Country provides an opportunity to embody Indigenous knowledges and experience places and people in field classes. However, such opportunities are increasingly under threat as the costs and risks of…

Field learning is considered an essential part of geoscience education, yet there are many practical challenges that limit broad and equitable access to field learning. Virtual field experiences can now help to broaden access to field learning. This work details the learning design and technical components of immersive, interactive virtual field…

Virtual and online learning arrived through a "force majeure" (French for "superior force"), the global COVID-19 pandemic. Google Expeditions, Google Arts and Culture and the Merge Cube are classified as simulated learning environments. Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) create simulated learning environments with…

Positioned in the context of experiential learning, this paper reports findings of a virtual reality field trip (VRFT) in conjunction with an in-person field trip involving preservice teachers in an elementary science methods course to a local natural history museum. Findings included that virtual reality (VR) is best used after a field trip to…

Recent literature has demonstrated the importance of fieldwork in geology. However, as resources become scarce, field experiences are often targeted for cuts. This was the case at the University of Calgary when massive enrollments placed a tremendous burden on resources. In courses throughout, field trips and other excursions were eliminated,…

Due to the changing landscape of K-12 education in the United States, particularly issues arising from funding, safety, accessibility, and standardization, the frequency at which teachers utilize traditional field trips has diminished over the last few decades. Thanks to continued advances in communicative technology, however, teachers are able to…

Teaching ethical reasoning is considered an important component of the undergraduate learning experience. A recent approach to teaching using experiential learning is through virtual worlds such as Second Life. We discuss how ethics may be taught using experiential learning in the virtual world of Second Life. Participants in the class in this…

The purpose of my action research is to create meaningful virtual field trips that give students many of the same benefits as actual field trips. Since educational budget cuts are preventing students from participating in real field trips there needs to be an alternative way to deliver that content. I hope to demonstrate how I am improving my…