If you’ve been wanting to try your hand at taking a virtual field trip in your classroom, here are the biggest things NOT to do – learn from my mistakes so you don’t have to! Virtual field trips can be such a great learning experience for students, but just like anything digital there are some problems you can run into. Here are some virtual field trip problems to avoid!
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Virtual Field Trip Problems to Avoid
Here are the biggest issues I’ve run into when planning a virtual field trip in my classes:
- Forgetting to check the tech on a student device
- Using a website that’s really cool, but costs $ or just overcomplicates things
- Media Time Trap
- Giving the handouts right away
- Not having a fast finisher/next step
Let’s talk a little bit more about each of these!
Virtual Field Trip Mistake #1
Forgetting to check the tech on a student device is the first virtual field trip mistake to avoid! Often we set up or build the virtual field trip on our teacher computers, which is just reasonable. The catch here is that sometimes a district has different security settings for teachers than they do for teachers.
The easy way to fix this is to snag a student device either during a passing period, a quiet moment in class, or when students might be working in a small group without their school issued laptop. Pull up the site to make sure you can access it.
Virtual Field Trip Mistake #2
Using a website that’s really cool, but costs money or overcomplicates things unnecessarily. Listen, I’m all for tech in the classroom, but there are times where tech becomes the focus instead of language learning. And money – well, we all know there are tons of things we could spend our money on in the classroom. Choosing wisely is important, and when there are free tools that are awesome, why spend your budget here?
Virtual Field Trip Mistake #3
Getting sucked into the scroll for the “perfect” piece of media. It’s easy to spend hours scrolling YouTube and Pinterest looking for just the right video or infographic. Embrace the “done is better than perfect” attitude here, or every virtual field trip you make will take days of your life. Of course, there are a few strategies to streamline your search! Check out my blog post with tips here.
Virtual Field Trip Mistake #4
Giving your students the handouts right away. Of course, handouts are optional and I talk about that here in my Behind the Scenes: Create a Virtual Field Trip with Me! blog post. BUT – if you do create a handout, graphic organizer, or comprehension activities of any kind, make sure you don’t give the students access to it right away. Let them explore the map and enjoy the “trip” first!
Virtual Field Trip Mistake #5
The last mistake you may make is forgetting to have a fast finisher handy for your students. One of the neatest things about a virtual field trip is that students are able to explore and discover on their own, working at their own pace! However, because they’re working on their own, they’ll all finish at different speeds. Neglecting to have a next step or options for your students to choose from is just asking for classroom management issues, in my opinion! Here are a few related posts for you to consider:
More on Virtual Field Trips for Spanish Class
If you want to learn even more about virtual field trips, check out this in-depth post with EVERYTHING you need to know – which programs you can choose from, how to include it in your lesson plan, different ideas for ways to use them in a unit – and more! Click here to read the post.
Example Virtual Field Trip Using Google My Maps
If you’d like to grab a free virtual field trip to use with your Spanish classes, sign up below to grab a trip to the Dominican Republic!