What is it about Field Trips? Praxis, Pedagogy and Presence in Virtual Environments

Abstract

Teaching Faculty in Humanities and Social Science disciplines often struggle to find ways to facilitate students’ understanding of theoretical concepts. In the Higher Education environment, we may neglect the “hands-on” strategies used so effectively in earlier educational contexts—to our students’ detriment in some cases.Recent moves towards situated and problem-based learning in Higher Education offer productive possibilities to incorporate all these modes of learning. In this paper, I argue that one specific pedagogical initiative—the field trip—offers productive opportunities for praxis in disciplines where it is not commonly considered as a teaching strategy. More specifically, I shall suggest that the traditional field trip can be usefully situated within an emerging field—virtual pedagogy—through the delivery of teaching strategies in virtual environments. I shall argue that, far from rebottling old wine, the virtual field trip combines situated, problem-based learning with praxis in excitingly new ways. Further, I suggest that the enhanced sense of presence provided by multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) offers Teaching Faculty in Higher Education contexts a surprisingly effective way to introduce students to complex theoretical concepts through playful experimentation. To illustrate my argument, I shall draw on personal experience of one such teaching initiative at graduate level—a Sociology graduate field trip to a MUVE called Second Life.