Thanks everyone for the lively discussion and the insights.&nbsp; For those of you who are going to be at GSA it would be great to meet and continue this discussion.<br><br>A little bit of background on my original questions.&nbsp; I'm in the last stages of a dissertation on the impact of virtual field environment design and use on teacher education.&nbsp; I also spend the bulk of my teaching time working with non-majors.&nbsp; So I have a strong interest in how VFEs can be used to support field education, how their design reflects authentic fieldwork, and how they can be used to give students a "taste" of fieldwork when getting into the field isn't possible. <br><br>Cheers<br>Frank G.<br><br>Frank Granshaw<br><br>Earth Science Instructor<br>Portland Community College<br>Sylvania Campus<br>Portland, OR <br>503-977-8236<br>