Awesome Classroom Project/Library Program: Students Create Virtual Field Trips

In the April 14th School Library Journal Newsletter I came across an article on a program/activity that I would love to try out. The article was about students creating videos for virtual field trips. The article focused on a student who created a video of her visit to The Windowfarms Project in New York City, where she learned about hydroponic gardening. She made a five minute video of her visit, in which she explains what hydroponic gardening is, gives a tour of the facility, and interviews the founder of the project. Her video, along with videos created by other students, can be found at www.meetmeatthecorner.org.

The site, Meet me at the Corner, is a great resource for teachers and librarians interested in doing this type of activity in their classroom or library. It hosts many submitted virtual field trips, and explains how to make a video of your own. Oddly enough, the videos on how to make a video of your own are created by kids as well, and are very easy and simple to follow. If you wanted to have your students create a video of their own the site would be great for showing them examples and walking them through the steps of making their own virtual field trips. For privacy reasons, I wouldn’t have my students post their videos to the site, only share them with the class.

Obviously, this type of project would require some major resources. You would need computer access, video cameras, and video editing software. And you would have to entrust students to taking the video camers outside of school, unless they already had their own at home to use. I think this type of project would work best with upper middle or high school students. You could have students work on their own, or in groups. You could plan a class field trip somewhere, say a museum, and have students create virtual field trips on different exhibits. If students had the travel resources, you could have them sign up for places to visit on their own, and have them create videos of their visit. I think students would really get into this type of project. It puts the control in their hands and gives them the opportunity to use their imagination and create. Also, it allows them to share their interests with the rest of the class, since they may be the ones determining the places they will visit.

If you don’t have the resources for your students to create virtual field trips, this site and the videos it houses could still be great resources for the classroom. Many of the virtual field trips could be used to supplement the curriculum. For instance, there is an interview with a meteorologist, an interview with a WWII veteran, a history of pizza, and a visit to the New York Hall of Science. There are even many book reviews and author interviews, all done by kids. If you don’t have the budget to take students on field trips, but wish you could, the virtual field trips on the site could allow you to introduce students to places and people they might not otherwise have an opporunity to see.

Article URL: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/slj/newslettersnewsletterbucketextrahelping2/890174-477/media_mix_student_videos_create.html.csp