All posts by Caroline

International Virtual field trip seminar

As part of the V-Global project, students from the University of Hamburg, Université Paris Cité and Oranim College are participating in an international seminar to produce virtual field trip.  These students are or will be teachers. They discovered their respective cultures, educational systems and issues related to global change. They also discovered Israel, Germany and France through virtual field trip.

Beyond the content, they discussed the interest and limits of each of these. These group discussions helped identify different pedagogical and technical approaches to virtual field trips. The next step is for the students to develop their own virtual field trip.

Discover Brusels

The VGlobal team met in last November 2022 in Brussels to further advance the work on virtual trip and main concept in Global change. An example of this can be found in the collaborative story map created on the issue of Global change in the cities applied to the city of Brussels. This city has many challenges and opportunities.

 

Collaborative tool : Miro

The V-Global project is based on collaborative work in blended learning. To get students to work together, we use participatory tools like MIRO. It is a free tool that allows doing individual and group work during or outside class, presentations, giving feedback on assignments, Q&A sessions, planning and structuring individual or collaborative work in order to construct knowledge.

Instructions : https://miro.com/blog/online-or-blended-classes/

1. Lesson Plan Template

It can be used for lesson plan can that will help organize lessons but help differentiate and plan for the different students’needs and ability levels. This template lesson plans can be modified and used again and again. One can organize the lesson in different sections:

  • A lesson overview
  • A summary of the tasks
  • The assignment deadlines
  • An area for student questions
  • Further material

2. Syllabus Template

The Syllabus Template ensures that students are on the same time— literally with you when you want to be and figuratively all the time. It includes everything that’s happening to accomplish their work.

3. Learning Objective Design Template

This template helps create a well-thought-out course that includes a supportive learning environment and skills practice, question & answers. The teacher has an overview in constructing knowledge. It means that teacher can “observe” all time the students’ progress on the one hand to create learner-centric statements that describe the desired behavior of the learner after the completion of an activity.

On the other hand, to helps identify and define assessment strategies that are aligned with established learning objectives. a simple way is provided by Miro with drag and drop components onto the canvas using sticky notes.

4. Thinking Critically Template

This template allows you to pose an interesting question, share supporting materials, and then facilitate an experience (synchronously or asynchronously) enabling students to test out their knowledge regarding the question. The collaborative work help participants see what they and others think about the question and if their opinions change once additional information has been introduced.

5. Methodological framework for the excursion in Athens using Miro

Theoretical background: Spatial process concerns the locations of objects, their shapes, their relations, and the paths they take as they move. Recognition of spatial knowledge enriches the traditional educational focus on developing literacy and skills to include a cognitive domain particularly relevant to achievement in real life. The spatial structuring development its basis in “experience.” Any notion should be approached by the learners according to three successive levels: (a)Body: it is the level experienced, such as knowing (2) By manipulating: it is the level being manipulated, such as apprehend (3) By representing: it is the level presented such as planning. In order for space to become perceptible there is a need for a series of processes-activities aiming at familiarizing student with the three major components of spatial thinking, namely cognition about, in and with space.

In this purpose the activities used during the field trip in Athens are divided into 5 steps:

  1. Co-presence: The first step concerns to identify the name and the role of each team member.
  2. Space as a subject: this step engages participants’ reactions after the field trip in order to trace their experience using relevant words.
  3. Space as an object of knowledge: The third one focuses on the recognition of the points of interest on the map, such as attach the doc/image for each point and add a description for transforming “visual realities” of space into visual creations (representations).
  4. Intellectual space: this step focuses in relationship to concepts and objects that are not in and of themselves necessarily spatial, but the nature of the space is defined by the particular problem. The creation of mind map, using the mindset in Miro, transforms the real field trip into the concept of virtual trip by providing the connections between objects.
  5. Reflection: the final step involves tools and techniques focused on questions, brainstorming, and ‘synectics’. It summarizes the experience by finding a “collective” title of the virtual trip. It is the result of collaboration between participants in order to understanding places, society in the purpose of Global change.

 

Photo by David Tip on Unsplash

Athens’ Virtual field trip

As part of the V-global project, we realized a field in Athens in May 2022.

The data collected allowed us to collaboratively create 5 virtual terrains on global change. These virtual fields are based on a common methodology.

  1. Identify keywords and choose a problem
  2. Identify 5 relevant datas
  3. Geolocate them
  4. Build the scenario of the virtual field trip
  5. Elaboration of the virtual field trip

The virtual fields were then created using different tools: Storymap and Genially. The renderings are varied and present the different ways of exploring the space virtually.

The Université Paris Cité’s field trip is based on a sensitive approach to the field. It is enhanced by artistic representations of the space.

The virtual field trip of Universität Hamburg is participative and includes tools like limesurvey or filling the blanck.

The virtual field trip developed by Eurogéo is based on a more conceptual (with a heuristic map) and visual approach with visual panoramas of the area.

Commonspace has developed a virtual field trip  on the scenes of everyday life with both an interpretation of spatial practices and an illustrated road trip.

Finally, NTUA’s virtual field trip  proposes a historical approach of Athens put in perspective with a spatial reading of the city.

Photo credits : David Tip on Unsplash

V-Global field trip in Athens

The first V-Global project field trip took place on the 3rd and 4th of May 2022 in Athens. 25 participants from all over Europe visited the city following 4 itineraries presented here.

The fieldwork allowed participants to collect geolocalized data (photos, sounds, videos, feelings) with the geolocalization applications: SW Maps and GeoTag. The participants engaged in a collaborative work with Miro. They shared their experiences, recorded their ideas, and selected the most relevant data. The discussions helped build the narrative of the virtual field trips that are now being developed.

Credits : Caroline Leininger-Frézal, May 3 2022, Athens town centre