Virtual Trips

The idea for the Google Lit Trip is a great one. It's another example of an interactive, multimedia project that can engage so many different learners and, as Brusca points out, bring them "to deeper learning."

I once created a virtual field trip as part of a Social Studies unit dealing with The Munich Agreement, a somewhat obscure historical document which played a terribly significant role in Hitler's expansion through Europe, the Holocaust and WWII. Much like Brusca's activity, this virtual field trip involved a series of hyperlinks set within a booklet which guided the students on a tour through the Holocuast Museum in Washington, DC. The pages of the booklet consisted of descriptions of what the students were seeing as they toured through the links, questions the students were prompted to answer, space for them to answer these questions, spaces where the kids could draw visual reresentations of information they were being asked to process, etc. A whole host of activities, similar to what kids would be asked to do if they were actually walking through the halls of the museum.

What is so terrific about these virtaul trips is the fact that they can so effectively bring to life information that is extremely complex. Or, to put it educational terms, move information from the abstract into the concrete, which can sometimes be extremely challenging within the confines of a classroom and using only text in a history book. As they clicked on the links the kids could see photographs of the people and the places, read letters, listen to audio, and watch digital images, including actual video footage of the signing of the Agreement. And they could examine pictures of the actual document itself, which is on display in the museum. The acitivty was met with much positive feedback.

By simply including links to a variety of activities and media available in the museum's website, I was able to reach so many different modalities. Also important is the fact that a field trip to Washington, DC and the actual Holocaust Museum would undoubtedly be cost prohibitive for most school settings. So such virtual trips can truly be a way for schools to, as the author of the article points out, "integrate technology without spending a lot of money." Moreover, I think such virtual trips can not only transport the kids to a museum, for example, they are a readily available, engaging, and dynamic way to actually transport them back in time.

Jeff Kulick