EXPLORING THE FEATURES THAT MAKE POPULAR VIRTUAL FIELD EXPERIENCES GREAT

Virtual Field Experiences (VFEs), which bring the field to students for learning geosciences, are available online in a wide range of formats and are ready to implement in many different courses. Prior work by the authors found that although some college geoscience instructors report spending significant time searching for and modifying VFEs to better fit their curriculum, they also report being largely satisfied with the available VFEs and wish that developers would include more data and geologic context in future products. In an effort to categorize VFEs to make them easier to find by instructors, a qualitative exploratory study was conducted. Eleven VFEs from prior research by the authors were analyzed for their interactive features, learning goals, target audience, authors, and host website. Additional features were coded using a modified version of both Morag & Tal’s (2012) FiNE framework and the O’Connell et al. (2022) UFERN model. Both frameworks were adapted for use with VFEs by modifying vocabulary and include considerations for online learning, such as hardware and software needs. The results of this study are useful for instructors as they seek new VFEs for their courses, and for VFE developers to make more informed decisions about what to include in future products.