Hi Glen
This may not be quite what you mean by a virtual field trip, but we have developed a virtual training environment, using the Unity game engine, in which to teach basic field
skills. The world is freely available at:
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/virtual_worlds/demo/
It is a virtual landscape populated with outcrops, each of which has an associated notebook entry accessed by clicking the outcrop. This gives information on rock type, bedding
reading etc. The students plot these data on to a field map (downloadable from the website) and use the information to decide where to go next to complete the task at hand. We use it to teach basic mapping skills such as how to map boundaries and how to
plot a bedding reading on to a field slip. We use a slightly different version (with hand specimens etc) for students unable to go in the field due to health/mobility issues.
There are two publications linked off the page. The first is probably more relevant to you, as the second focuses on how the worlds were made within Unity and we have further
refined our workflow since this work was written.
This is our first world, but we are now working on new and improved versions with landscapes that more clearly reflect the underlying geology, with more realistic looking outcrops
and with different geology for different levels of students, which we hope will be available in a few months’ time.
We also have a second website with interactive 3D block models of different map outcrop patterns also made using Unity:
www.see.leeds.ac.uk/virtual_worlds/minimaps/
I hope this helps and let me know if you have any questions.
Regards
Jacqui
*******************************************
Dr Jacqueline Houghton
Lecturer (Teaching and Scholarship)
Academic Disability Contact SOEE
Rm 9.159
School of Earth and Environment
University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT
Virtual Worlds Project:
From: Glenn Dolphin [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 29 April 2016 16:50
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Looking for information about developing and/or incorporating virtual field trips in geoscience classes
Hi all (and I apologize for any double posting for those on both lists I am addressing).
My colleagues and I, here at the university of Calgary, are in the midst of acquiring funding to develop virtual field trips, mainly for our introductory classes.
With 400-500 students per class, it’s a bit difficult, logistically, to take them out into the field. Anyway, our granting institution wants to see our proposal better grounded in the literature on virtual field trips, so I am asking you, my esteemed colleagues,
if you have any resources (published or not) concerning, either the development, the implementation, or the evaluation of virtual field experiences in geoscience or related science classes.
I am happy to make a list of such resources and share them with the community, if that seems worthwhile. Also, these virtual field experiences will be considered
Open Educational Resources (OERs). They will be online, and free to anyone who wishes to use them. I will also spread that word when the time comes.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Best regards, Glenn
Glenn Dolphin, PhD
Tamaratt Teaching Professor
University of Calgary
Department of Geoscience
Earth Science 118
2500 University Drive NW,
Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2N 1N4
403.220.6025