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3D Video Conferencing is Changing Classroom Fieldtrips

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3D video conferencing is making an immensely positive impact on the way teachers are conducting classroom field trips. Children are engaging like never before, as schools are saving time and money from the traditional method.  

This type of technology enriches a student's education, as it allows them to "visit" distant places that are otherwise inaccessible to them. Students are diving into volcanoes and wading through California tide pools, all from the safety of their own classrooms.

Teacher's are also adopting video conferencing as a means of connecting partner classrooms and sharing curriculum with schools all over the country. There are many reasons why this form of virtual distance-learning is having such a positive impact on schools.

Decreased Liability


It is not uncommon for school officials to worry about a negligence suit arising from a school sponsored activity. Many schools have reduced the frequency of off campus trips due to litigious reasons. A recent national survey by West’s Education Law Reporter revealed that school principals considered the issue of liability when making decisions regarding student activities away from school.

Many schools are now required to compile risk assessment plans prior to taking any off-campus trips. This results in an increase of paperwork for both the teacher and parent, creating more room for possible error. 

3D videoconferencing solves this problem, because the students never leave their seats. They are as safe on a "field trip" as they would be any other day sitting in class. Without the risk of injury or negligence, more opportunity is created for the children to have an engaging experience.

Cost Effective

Virtual field trips are highly cost effective. They minimize traditional field trip costs like: travel, labor, and venue fees. These elements are no longer a burden on a teacher's decision to engage in a field trip.

The one-to-one institute, a non-profit for implementing technology in schools, has conducted a national study of education technology. The survey is called Project RED and it studies the benefits of technology like video conferencing, in the classroom. Their second finding stated:
"Properly implemented educational technology can be revenue-positive at all levels—federal, state, and local. Project RED respondents report that technology contributes to cost reductions and productivity improvements—the richer the technology implementation, the more positive the impact."

While some videoconferencing systems can run into the thousands, Guy Lodico, director of technology for the Plainview–Old Bethpage Central School District in New York, has moved away from those systems by simply using Skype and a $100 Logitech webcam. While some schools have a dedicated room for 3D videoconferencing, it can be done from any classroom with the proper equipment. 

Specific Curriculum


One of the most amazing things about the internet, is how much you can learn for free. Hundreds of venues across the country have developed curriculums and programs to work in conjunction with video conferencing. Many will also work with the teacher to customize the experience, like the Cleveland Museum of Art, which allows you to focus on specific artists.

During the last 5 years, California State Parks has developed a free, distance-learning program called Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students (PORTS). The program allows thousands of K-12 students across the country to engage in interactive lessons and virtual field trips to the parks. With a dedicated video conferencing room complete with a Polycom system and an LCD screen, Lone Tree School on Beale Air Force Base in Marysville, CA now averages between 75-100 virtual trips a year.

The Mt. Lebanon School District in Pennsylvania has a virtual program called " In e-Mission: Operation Montserrat" that allows students to visit a live volcano on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. They watch video clips of lava flow and ash clouds, which then conveys seismic data to their classroom computers. 

Instructional Technology Coordinator Aileen Owens made a great point when she stated, “Kids don’t find studying rocks exciting. That changes when you make learning come alive like this.”

Engaging and Enriching


Many of these field trips cost so little, the students are able to take more per year; enriching their education like never before. This in turn, increases classroom participation. Finding number seven of Project Red revealed that when virtual field trips are conducted correctly, they lead to "better discipline, better attendance, and increased college attendance." In many cases, they found the same level of learning in both an actual and virtual field trip. 

The Virtual Field Trip Coordinator for the Durham, North Carolina School District, Dacia Jones, is heavily involved in 3D videoconferencing in the classroom. She is also the district's science specialist, and had this to say about virtual field trips:

"I don't pay for any virtual field trip. For us, they're absolutely free except if we purchase anything for the kids to be doing while the field trip happens. And you're right about planning for lunches and getting buses. They do take a lot less time. We have some teachers that take a virtual field trip every week. And we do have some soft data that says kids are in attendance more on the date of a virtual field trip because they don't want to miss it."

Videoconferencing is also connecting schools across the country. Partner schools learning together through this type of virtual communication elevates and inspires a student's education. Working with different cultures, taking virtual field trips together, sharing common issues, and solving problems as a group, creates a dialogue between the children that's mutually beneficial.

Alabama has a distance-learning program called Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators and Students Statewide) ACCESS that offers free video-conferencing classes for students in grades 8-12. It has been credited with contributing to the increase of Alabama's high school graduation rate from 2002-2008. 

Dacia Jones put it quite eloquently, when she stated: "Our bottom line is if you can go on a real field trip, absolutely, but we're also going to supplement with all of these other experiences because none of our kids can go to the International Space Station, and none of them can go to Maui to a volcano, and none of them can go to Antarctica and talk with scientists. We're just providing those other experiences for kids that right now they have no access to it."

Although the concept of virtual field trips has been around for a few years, it received a big boost in 2015 when President Obama participated in a virtual field trip series called "Of The People: Live From the White House." 

3D video conferencing has forever altered the landscape of learning in the classroom. Not only are teachers saving money, they're further enriching student's lives, promoting participation, and simply having a blast with 3D videoconferencing. Next up, maybe an island or an undersea cave! The opportunities are seem endless.