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Hi Glenn,

I am part of a team at ASU that has been developing richly immersive virtual field trips (iVFTs) in the Earth sciences, environmental sciences, and social sciences for a number of years.  The iVFTs are sited around the world at places that are exemplary for teaching concepts and themes such as early Earth life (e.g., Pilbara and, Shark Bay in Australia), geologic time and history (e.g., Grand Canyon), Earth system processes (e.g., Upheaval Dome in Canyonlands), mass extinctions (global K-Pg boundary locations), and human history (e.g., Teotehuacan).  They incorporate diverse forms of media, and many include options for free exploration or guided inquiry (the latter provided by guided field labs embedded within the iVFTs themselves at pedagogically valuable places). 

With funding from NSF, HHMI, and NASA, we are also conducting a program of mixed-methods learning research in virtual field environments, and we have a couple of papers in the pipeline.

We invite anyone interested to visit the iVFT website at vft.asu.edu, make free use of the resources (we’d appreciate hearing from you if you do), and email me ([log in to unmask]) with any questions you may have.

Best regards,
Steve Semken

(on behalf of Ariel Anbar, Geoffrey Bruce, Chris Mead, Tom Ruberto, and others)




Steven Semken, Ph.D. 
Associate Professor of Geology and Education
and Associate Director for Community Outreach | School of Earth and Space Exploration
Senior Sustainability Scientist Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability
 
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
[log in to unmask] | 480-965-7965
PO Box 871404 | Tempe AZ 85287-1404
http://semken.asu.edu





On 29 Apr 2016, at 08:49 , Glenn Dolphin <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

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