Building Virtual Campus Culture with Live Virtual Field Trips

Outline

1. Introduction and Session Overview (10 minutes)
Content: Overview of common challenges and successes in building virtual campus culture and engaging students in synchronous activities.
Engagement: Brief discussion and live poll to gauge participant experiences with student engagement and successful strategies.
Process: Participants share personal experiences with engagement issues and successes in their virtual schools.

2. Partnership with BOLD and Banyan Global Learning (5 minutes)
Content: Presentation of the experimental partnership between BOLD and Banyan Global Learning, focusing on how virtual field trips address specific challenges and enhance virtual campus culture.

3. Live Exploration of a Virtual Field Trip (15 minutes)
Content: Demo of a live virtual field trip, highlighting its role in creating social connections and addressing specific challenges mentioned in the introduction.
Engagement: Interactive participation in the virtual trip demo, followed by group reflection on the experience and its potential applications.
Process: Real-time engagement with virtual guides and breakout discussions on integrating this approach into their own settings.

4. Collaborative Strategy Design (15 minutes)
Content: Participants work together to create actionable plans for integrating live virtual field trips into their schools to build culture and engagement.
Engagement: Hands-on collaborative activity to design strategies, with emphasis on creating engaging synchronous experiences.
Process: Small-group work in breakout rooms, followed by brief presentations of immediately implementable plans.

5. Measuring Success and Iteration (5 minutes)
Content: Discussion on how to measure the success of implemented strategies and iterate for continuous improvement.
Engagement: Quick brainstorming session on success metrics and potential adjustments.
Process: Whole group sharing of ideas.

6. Q&A and Wrap-Up (10 minutes)
Content: Final thoughts on building virtual campus culture through live virtual field trips and open floor for questions.
Engagement: Open Q&A, reflection, and sharing of implementation intentions.
Process: Peer-to-peer interaction through Q&A and brief sharing of action plans.

Supporting research

This resource highlights the benefits of virtual field trips in fostering engagement and building school culture, particularly in remote or hybrid learning environments. https://virtualfieldtrips.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Research-Supporting-the-Many-Uses-for-Virtual-Field-Trips.pdf