Gaining adequate on-farm experience can be difficult for students due to limited resources, time, and strict biosecurity protocols. This study assessed university student perceptions of the usability of a virtual reality (VR) farm tour focused on swine or dairy farming. Seventy-one participants experienced a VR farm tour. After completing the…

Field trips are steadily declining due to limited funding, time constraints, safety concerns, and other logistical issues. Many schools are resorting to a virtual field trip (VFT), especially when education is disrupted due to public health concerns, natural disasters, or other unforeseen significant events. Virtual reality as a common form of VFT…

In response to the increased attention and interest related to the application of virtual reality with head-mounted displays in education, this study examined the elementary students' perceptions of using immersive virtual field trips (VFTs) in the classroom. Reflection papers from 25 students were analyzed and triangulated with field notes from…

In recent years, supported by digital technology, virtual reality (VR) has brought about a paradigm shift in education. Students can experience the interactivity and immersive learning offered by VR technology in virtual worlds. This study applies virtual reality as a new instructional mode in field trip courses and explores the factors…

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…

Over the past three decades, virtual tours have been used in many contexts. In educational settings, virtual tours have been used to replace on-site field trips, which can be difficult to execute due to a variety of logistical concerns. While virtual tours are widely used, there is limited research pertaining to their use in food and agricultural…

Field learning is fundamental in geoscience, but cost, accessibility, and other constraints limit equal access to these experiences. As technological advances afford ever more immersive and student-centered virtual field experiences, they are likely to have a growing role across geoscience education. They also serve as an important tool for…

Agency, or the capacity to take intentional actions, is considered one of the primary affordances of virtual reality (VR) for learning. VR is expected to increase learners' agency because it allows for full-body interactivity from a first-person perspective, giving them novel ways of interacting with the digital environment. Yet, agency in…

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…

Virtual field trips are transforming education in biology and other place-based disciplines -- and not just since COVID-19 has imposed social distancing constraints. Efficient methods for content creation, combined with affordable immersive technology, provide the opportunity to integrate immersive experiences into ever-larger classes. However,…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of immersive virtual field trips (VFTs) with head-mounted displays (HMDs) on the presence and perceived learning. A mixed-method approach was used to obtain an overall understanding of students' experiences with this immersive technology in an elementary classroom. Both quantitative and…

In-person field education through exploration is fundamental in geoscience, but equal access is limited by time, cost, safety, distance, physical ability, and instructor variability. Technology advances allow students to explore pedagogically rich but inaccessible places through virtual field trips (VFTs). Studies show that VFTs result in…

Researchers have been devoted to exploring the impacts of immersive virtual reality (IVR) on education in recent years. However, efforts to probe the role of students' learning traits such as motivated strategies for learning in their IVR learning have been limited. Most studies commonly analyzed learners' perceptions of immersion with a single…

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…

In response to the coronavirus pandemic in the fall of 2020, we created hybrid-virtual or fully virtual field trips to replace in-person field trips in two courses. For an introductory soil science course with 178 students enrolled, we used a narrative format supported by 360° ground-level and drone photos, newspaper articles, videos, websites,…