SUPPORTING ACCESSIBILITY AND INCLUSIVITY IN FIELD-BASED EDUCATION: DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTERACTIVE SELF-GUIDED VIRTUAL TOUR OF A GEOLOGICAL FIELD SCHOOL

During COVID-19, numerous instructors developed ways to incorporate digital technologies to create remote or virtual experiences to address students' needs in geologic field courses (e.g., Burmeister et al., 2020). Despite a large volume of virtual field experiences created during 2020-2022 (see NAGT’s Teach the Earth Collection), there remains a limited number of studies focused on how such virtual field experiences can be effectively embedded to increase the accessibility and inclusivity of in-person field courses. Specifically of interest, is how virtual field experiences can be used to scaffold students for field-based learning by reducing anxiety and other learning barriers associated with the high levels of ‘novelty space’ (Orion and Hofstein, 1994). We developed an immersive self-guided virtual field trip (VFT) for students to interact with the environment at the Teck Geological Field Station (near Oliver, British Columbia, Canada) prior to arriving for their field course. The VFT was designed with the hypothesis that by frontloading students with key experience information about the station, students will feel more prepared and less anxious about embarking on a field-learning experience and associated living conditions. The VFT is thought to minimize cognitive overload and the negative effects on learning associated with novelty space, thus increasing students’ comfort and receptivity to field-based learning.

Here, we present an overview of the VFT design process, key design elements, lessons learned, and preliminary user experience data. The immersive VFT scenes combine 360° images, still images, Google Maps, audio clips, and informative text. After a comparative analysis of virtual tour platforms, we decided to create the VFT using Lapentor which allows students to study the site multimodally and embeds a mechanism for students to share feedback on their experience. This work can inform others seeking to design similar field course orientation materials.