While Google’s Expeditions pilot program travels to schools across the country to gauge how the tool works in the classroom, there’s already a tool that’d readily available for educators to take their students on virtual field trips.

Science teacher Joanna Beck in a post for ASCD SmartBrief recommends that educators look into Nearpod to give students a memorable virtual field trip experience.

While teachers will have to wait a while to access Google Expeditions if they’re not a part of the pilot program, Nearpod’s Virtual Field Trip feature is ready to go. 

Beck says she’s been using it with positive results so far.

"Nearpod allows teachers to upload their presentation and then add activities or content to complement the learning experience in the classroom. Teachers can add questions throughout the presentation for real-time monitoring. The feature lets teachers quickly identify students’ misconceptions as well. Nearpod offers web content in which teachers can add online simulations or videos to help enhance the content and reinforce the lesson,” Beck said.

Nearpod has 28 different lessons to correspond to its virtual reality kits; through the lessons, students can be immersed in distant lands like Rome, China, Paris and even very, very distant lands like Mars

Plus, if schools sign up for a school or district license they receive all 28 lessons for no charge, according to Nearpod’s website. 

"Nearpod ensures students move through a lesson at the teacher’s pace. By the end of the lesson, the teacher can print reports to analyze student data. Consider using Nearpod Virtual Field Trips to engage students in your next lesson,” Beck said.

Read the full post.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

3/30/2016