I am excited to share my recent publication “Making Identity Tangible: A Virtual Field Trip to the House of European History” at Journal of Political Science Education.
The learning objective in the article might be niche (European identity-making), but for the broader Political Science nerds here, I want to highlight some of the exciting things that I do (and write) in the article:
(1) Virtual fields in Political Science are relative underused and rare. Part of that stems from a misconception that (a) knowledge acquisition and retentions is not as high as they are on traditional field trips, and (b) they lack a sense of authenticity. I show in the literature review that the (limited) research on it actually shows that when intentionally designed (as all experiential learning opportunities should) acquisition and retention levels are the same as on traditional fieldtrips. Not only that, but virtual field trips have the ability to change political attitudes and conceptions about political realities. Additionally, virtual field trips overcome geographical, economic, and ability obstacles thus generating a more inclusive teaching environment for our students. As for authenticity: true, a virtual field trip does not provide the opportunity to smell the streets and feel the wind on your face (and other “out-of-curriculum” learning opportunities); but there is something to be said about virtual field trips – as they provide a certain kind of access and at times limitless exploring, which might not be possible on a traditional field trip (which usually involves a specific itinerary).
(2) Utilizing the virtual opportunities of the House of European History in Brussels, I design a three-step virtual field trip to the museum. I provide a guide how a virtual field trip can be conceptualized and institutionalized into your classroom framework (including prep work for the students and the educator). The three-step framework that makes up the trip focuses on individual, group, and debrief class work, thus allowing students to engage at different levels with the information and field trip site.
(3) This is for the European Union Politics folks: Most of our experiential learning opportunities focus on “how-a-bill-becomes-a-law” games or simulations focused on specific EU policy concerns/EU institutions. This leave little room to experientially engage with more abstract concepts like identity-making in the European Union. I initially designed this exercise during the Covid days to change up the virtual classroom dynamic, but this exercise also works (and has worked for me) in the traditional classroom space. It allows my students and I to approach European Identity from a tangible angle that goes beyond “just” scholarly readings and approximations, which I think makes these abstract concepts a bit more “real” and “workable”.
I am curious to see if anyone here is working on virtual field trips or has done them in their classrooms. Feel free to reach out and share!