<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>In its broadest and historical sense, place-based education refers to education that occurs outside of the physical boundaries of a school building (Dewey 1910; Sobel 1996; Theobald 1997; Woodhouse and Knapp 2000). Place-based education, colloquially referred to as the ‘field trip’, is predominantly considered a pedagogic tool of the sciences. It involves a physical movement from the school-based location to a place of interest, for example, a geography field trip to an ecological landscape or science visit to a local museum. This paper considers the use of virtual world field trips (VWFTs) within the context of a pre-service Teacher Education programme. The paper presents data from one undergraduate module offered on a programme of initial teacher education. The paper identifies three significant elements of virtual world field trips: place, people and content. First, the virtual world can provide access to places not possible in the offline context as a result of geographic, economic or religious factors. Second, exposure to and dialogue with a variety of world views can challenge students’ assumptions, facilitate reflection and provide an opportunity for oneto-one teaching encounters. Third, from a teacher educator perspective, engagement in virtual world field trips can provide a space for teachers to model teaching methodologies and model creative learning techniques, thus providing student teachers with an insight into different approaches to teaching.</p></abstract>

In its broadest and historical sense, place-based education refers to education that occurs outside of the physical boundaries of a school building (Dewey 1910; Sobel 1996; Theobald 1997; Woodhouse and Knapp 2000). Place-based education, colloquially referred to as the ‘field trip’, is predominantly considered a pedagogic tool of the sciences. It involves a physical movement from the school-based location to a place of interest, for example, a geography field trip to an ecological landscape or science visit to a local museum. This paper considers the use of virtual world field trips (VWFTs) within the context of a pre-service Teacher Education programme. The paper presents data from one undergraduate module offered on a programme of initial teacher education. The paper identifies three significant elements of virtual world field trips: place, people and content. First, the virtual world can provide access to places not possible in the offline context as a result of geographic, economic or religious factors. Second, exposure to and dialogue with a variety of world views can challenge students’ assumptions, facilitate reflection and provide an opportunity for oneto-one teaching encounters. Third, from a teacher educator perspective, engagement in virtual world field trips can provide a space for teachers to model teaching methodologies and model creative learning techniques, thus providing student teachers with an insight into different approaches to teaching.

A brave new world: considering the pedagogic potential of Virtual World Field Trips (VWFTs) in initial teacher education

Institute of Education, St. Patrick’s Campus, Dublin City University, Drumcondra, Dublin 9, Ireland

International Journal for Transformative Research

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

In its broadest and historical sense, place-based education refers to education that occurs outside of the physical boundaries of a school building (Dewey...

A brave new world: considering the pedagogic potential of Virtual World Field Trips (VWFTs) in initial teacher education

Published Online: Aug 06, 2016

Page range: 9 - 15

Received: Mar 01, 2016

Accepted: May 01, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ijtr-2016-0002

Keywords
Pre-service education, Virtual worlds, Information and communication technology, Virtual world field trips

© 2016 Sabrina Fitzsimons et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

A brave new world: considering the pedagogic potential of Virtual World Field Trips (VWFTs) in initial teacher education

Published Online: Aug 06, 2016

Page range: 9 - 15

Received: Mar 01, 2016

Accepted: May 01, 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ijtr-2016-0002

KeywordsPre-service education, Virtual worlds, Information and communication technology, Virtual world field trips

© 2016 Sabrina Fitzsimons et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Pre-service education, Virtual worlds, Information and communication technology, Virtual world field trips