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1.2.4.Designingandrunningteacher-madevirtualfieldtrips
Therearesomeimportantaspectsthatshouldbetakenintoaccountwhendesigning
telefieldtripactivitiesforstudents.Aboveall,theyshouldberelatedtolearners'interests,
strictlyconnectedwiththecoursebookunits,reinforcingalreadylearntmaterialornew
input.AsLuzonMarco(2001b)advises,virtualfieldtripsareattheirbestwhenusedat
theendofsomelearningunit,sothatstudentsarealreadyequippedwithlanguagemeans
necessarytoparticipateinatrip.Anotherimportantaspectistheappropriateintroduction
tothetrip,eitherintheformofstudentscollectinginformationonthetopicandpresenting
totheclass,wholeclassbrainstormingortheteacherlecturing,sothatvisitingthetripis
alreadysetinthecontextofstudents'backgroundknowledge.
Theissueoftopicselectionisofparamountimportance,andLengel(2003a)advises
tocarefullyconsiderthecurriculumintermsofteachability;therefore,oneneedsto
identifythecurriculumopportunityforteachingaconceptortopicthatisdifficultto
studyintheclassroomorthelibrary,somethingthatisdryandabstractintheclassroom
mightprovelivelyandconcreteon-site.Afterisolatingtopics,aplanningteacherneeds
toformulatethepurpose(makingitcleartostudentswhytheyaretotakethetrip),
provokewiththeproblem(challengestudentswithaproblemtosolveoranassignment
tocomplete)andoutlineapath(provideaclearpath,withexplanations,background
information,andaprovocativequestionateachstep).
Creatingteacher-madefieldtripscanbedoneusingtwopossiblemethods,the
webpagesolutionorthededicatedsoftwaresolution.Intheformercase,oneneeds
tocollectresources,evaluateandselecttheonestobeincluded,imposeaproper
ordering,createtasks,organizethematerialintotopics,subtopicsandtopicactivities,
withthefinaloutputbeingstructuredintheformofaseriesofwebpagesstored
locallyorglobally(seeTeacherTips,http://www.uen.org/utahlink/tours/
teacher_tips.htmforcreatingfieldtripswithadedicatedWebtoolkit).Theother
solution,advocatedbySteele-Carlin(2001/2002),isusingdedicatedsoftware
(TourMaker,availableforafree-of-chargetrialdownloadfromhttp://www.fieH-
guides.com),whichleadstheuserinastep-by-stepwizardtocreateanewtrip(entering
thetitle,thefilestoragelocation,specifyingthesteps,integratingtext,graphics,
audio,video).Intheoutput,alsostoredlocallyoravailableglobally,inadditionto
aneasy-to-followthread,thenarrationwindowcontainstextexplainingthesite,
puttingitincontextforthegradelevelandthemebeingstudied,andproviding
additionallinkstotakestudentstokeypagesonthesite.
Thewayanyactivityispresentedandexecutedcanhaveeitheraboostingor
devastatingeffectonitseffectivenessintermsoflearners.Thus,McKenzie(2001)
providesguidelinesforexecutingvirtualtrips:
selectatripwhichhasaclearconnectiontowhatoneisstudyinginclass;
beresponsibleasthechaperonewhiletheclassisonline;
teachapreparatorylessonbeforetheonlinetrip;
previewthesiteandknowthecontenttherein;
checkalllinksuptothreeclicksawayfromthetour;