Technology has long been transforming the educational sector, offering more and more opportunities for more efficient and productive teaching and learning. Now, thanks to technology, there are almost no limitations in the classroom. Students can study from anywhere, access information in seconds, and even travel in time and across the world right from the classroom.

Without any doubt, unlike essay writing and other standard classroom activities, a virtual field trip is something deeply exciting and engaging. It can have plenty of benefits for learners. But how do you ensure that your students will be able to make the most out of it?

The key to integrating virtual field trips into a conventional academic curriculum is to organize such activities wisely. They must perfectly align with the rest of the program and provide meaningful learning experiences. To help you make this real, an expert educator and a college essay rewriter from a trusted paper writing service shares a detailed guide on how to plan and host effective virtual field trips that actually fit into the curriculum.

Step 1: Take Time to Do Your Research

Anything big and important should start with research. When handling their homework, students first research the topic. When deciding to use expert academic help from a professional dissertation writer, they read writing services reviews. This “research-action” approach is now applied everywhere, and you have to use it for organizing your field trips too.

Research the available virtual field trip options to find one that matches your lesson plan. It should also be accessible, engaging, and creative to offer the most benefits. Ideally, it’s also recommended to take the chosen field trip yourself before offering it in the class. This will give you an understanding of how to relate the trip to the curriculum and what points to emphasize to help students gain more knowledge from it.

Step 2: Set Objectives and Develop a Lesson Plan

In order to bring tangible results, virtual field trips must have clear connections to the curriculum. That is, they must align with the specific lesson, topic, or learning goals that you plan to address.

To do this, first, set clear lesson objectives. Then, write a detailed lesson plan with these objectives in mind. Map out what knowledge you want to deliver to students during the trip, what tasks and activities you want to include in the process, etc. The more detailed the lesson plan, the more tangible results you will be able to get.

Step 3: Invite an Expert

Although virtual field trips can be incredibly fun and engaging, not all ready-made tour guide plans can provide enough information and knowledge for your students. Moreover, these plans might not be well-aligned with your curriculum. In this case, it will be a good idea to offer learners more context before the trip by inviting an expert who will tell them more information related to the future field trip.

According to experts, bringing in external experts can enrich the content of the course, engage students more, and even encourage the motivation to study a particular matter. So if you can arrange a virtual call with an established professional, it can have plenty of benefits.

Step 4: Do Some Pre-Work

While inviting an expert is never a bad idea, you still need to do a bit of pre-work before taking students on a virtual trip. Pre-work is needed to help students understand the related content and objectives of the future field trip better.

The pre-work must provide the class with vital background information on the topic. Also, it should include some engaging activities and tasks to help students build background knowledge before they go on a trip. For example, you can organize a sort of research sprint during which students will research the destination you are planning to attend and the primary topic of the trip.

After they do some research, you can ask them to write an essay or research paper on the topic. Even if they turn to the best essay editing services for help with this task, they will still gain sufficient background knowledge that will be then complemented by the knowledge they gain during the field trip.

Finally, complete the pre-work with a discussion session to help students exchange the information they found and deepen their knowledge of the subject matter.

Pro tip: After you do some pre-work, analyze the outcomes of it. This will help you identify what else students need to learn during the trip.

Step 5: Include Some Post-Work

Finally, this is one more tip for making effective virtual field trips. After you go on a planned trip, add some reflection components afterward. Simply put, give students an opportunity to analyze and reflect on the newly gained knowledge.

This kind of post-work will help you see what exactly students have learned from the field trip. On top of that, such reflection will boost information retention.

The Bottom Line

Virtual field trips are a new big thing for a reason. Such classroom activities offer students unique, first-hand learning experiences. Besides, such trips are very fun and promote a love for learning.

Now, you know how to plan and organize virtual field trips that bring the desired results. Use the steps and tips from this article to create unique learning experiences that fit into your curriculum!