The following guidelines for creating virtual field trips and studies were proposed by the Virtual Field Trips and Studies Working group. Those wishing to contribute virtual field trips should design their materials to conform to them.

1. Field trip or study should conform to the Virtual Geography Department Module Formatting Guidelines.

2. Audience: Modules should be aimed at college/university level students though they may be applicable to K-12 students.

3. Length: Length will depend on individual author's requirements. Field trip or study should be broken into segments about 15 minutes in length to do an activity away from the computer (see item 8 below). Total length approximately an hour to hour and a half.

4. Field trip or study should be question driven. The lesson should not only explain what is at the places students are visiting but why they are there as well.

5. Clearly stated objectives should be provided in the Module Overview web page. Objectives might be repeated in the Student Information web page. See Virtual Geography Department Module Formatting Guidelines and example Module Overview, Instructor Notes, and Student Information web pages for further information.

6. Include geographical context/background for the field trip or study. Location maps are required.

7. Active learning practices should be employed where appropriate. These might include:

1. collection, manipulation, and synthesis of data
2. mapping
3. compare and contrast questions
4. predictive questions

9. Navigation

1. Text links to pages within the module even if you use buttons for navigation.
2. Provide means for nonlinear navigation.
3. See Virtual Geography Department Module Formatting Guidelines for further information.

This page is maintained by the Department of Geography/Geology, University of Wisconsin -- Stevens Point. Please send comments and corrections to Michael Ritter at mritter@uwsp.edu.

Created on 10 June 1996. Last revised 24 June 1997 by MER.