Virtual Field Courses Beyond Geography

The following StoryMap has been created to introduce the flexibility of running a virtual field course. Although the earth sciences are well known for running field courses for their students, they are common in other academic subjects. Virtual field courses are supplementary to activities currently being conducted by universities.

The resources below should spark ideas in how to implement virtual field courses across different degree programmes.

The ArcGIS Site Licence on offer to universities would offer the ability to quickly implement these at no extra cost between departments.

Cultural Visits, Period Design, Landscape Design

Historical civilizations are often identified with their surviving architectural achievements. Being able to visit these locations helps students understand the design implications and processes involved within their architectural practice at the time.

Below is a simple satellite overview map of Venice in Italy. It is interactive which means individuals can explore the city for themselves from above, with a view not normally gained in the cramped alleys. Module staff could use a map to identify key structures or use photographs from field visits in previous years.

Preserving communities is an important role for an architect. We've linked through to an example StoryMap highlighting period design in Havana. The story discusses the considerations a planner must take when restoring an old capital. Similar resources could be made for use in landscape design and planning.

Excavation Site Visits, Topographic Surveys, Historical Areas

Visits to excavation sites are important for studying archaeology gaining hands-on skills for their craft, supplementing this understanding with a virtual field course is certainly possible.

StoryMaps could be used to describe known excavation sites such as this  example , creating an interactive document for students to explore.

We have also chosen to share a fantastic resource from the University of Oxford detailing Hillforts across the UK. This demonstrates a way of sharing information about places without compromising the sensitivity of visiting with a large group in the field.

Cultural landmarks, City Tours, Integration with virtual museums

This example below was created by Esri Italy whereby you can virtually walk around the city of Rome and appreciate the impressive fountains and statues. Students can use resources such as this to view cultural landmarks which would have played an important role in the creative process during different periods of art history.

It is not only geologist who have the benefit of 3D experiences and technologies. Museums around the world are rising to the need to provide virtual tours. Module staff can provide an interactive document such as this to enable students to reach those resources more easily. We have linked two below:

•  Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam 
•  Solomon R Guggenheim in New York 

Environmental Impact Assessments, Habitat and Ecological Surveys, Global Environmental Change

Learning about the science behind modern conservation requires an understanding of wildlife and habitat identification. Ecology courses will often include trips to different habitats for hands-on data collection. Virtual field trips offer the opportunity to explore global locations with students interacting with maps.

A virtual experience can tap into the wealth of global datasets available on the  Living Atlas  to bring to life environmental change.

Site Visits, Topographic Surveys, Integration with CAD

Site visits are common place in civil engineering workplaces after university. However, technology has improved to a standard whereby visits can be conducted virtually with GIS and CAD drawing aiding an engineers understanding.

Below you will find a topographic map of an area similar to one which may be used for a survey.

Zoom into the map below to see contour lines appear. Clicking on the map will reveal planning zones.

Infrastructure is a developing intersect between GIS and CAD.  Esri have partnered with Autodesk  to provide a link between these two technologies. We have included a link to a 3D point cloud of the Amsterdam train network, the slides allow a user to explore a site and zoom into specific areas such as the tunnel underneath the port.

Cultural Visits, Global History, Historic Sites, Integration with virtual museums

Understanding all the world's historical sites would require several trips around the globe. Similarly to the potential for virtual field courses for Art degrees, discussed above, one could take advantage of the Museums which are placing their resources online for viewers. Or module staff could make bespoke resources sharing photographs and notes from site visits in previous years.

The examples below demonstrate how you can use the ArcGIS Platform to investigate an area. The Front Line Map from Queen's Unversity Belfast allows you to toggle maps from the time on top of the current satellite imagery. In the StoryMap below use interactive storytelling to bring to life the bombing missions of the Vietnam War.

City / Cultural Tours, Global challenges beyond borders

Students studying langauges will often opt for a year's study abroad to immerse themselves in a culture and language during daily life. However, this can be a large financial burden on students a virtual tour can offer the flexibility to students who may not be able to travel and experience a new country.

ArcGIS StoryMaps offers tools to share stories in multiple languages such as walking tour of a city which you would provide in person.

Demographic studies, Global health, Tropical diseases

Although medicine wouldn't at first glance be a degree benefiting from a virtual field course. The recent resources released by John Hopkins University for monitoring the Covid-19 Pandemic show how it may be possible to provide this level of engagement for students. We have highlighted some examples below.

Demographics are a crucial component in understanding local and global healthcare systems. The Living Atlas provides a wealth of resources for module staff to explore and understand populations around the world. This map shows the Preterm Birth Prevalence in the United States and could be combined with activities to allow a student to explore the patterns and draw out conclusions for themselves.

Medical students may choose to study tropical diseases which occur in different countries due to their climate. The World Health Organisation publish numberous applications to help with response to tropical diseases across the globe. Module staff could directly embed these into resources or opt to create their own with Open Datasets. You can navigate through to one for Yellow Fever in South America below:

We hope to have introduced the idea that field trips shouldn't be thought of as solely for geography students taking earth science degrees. The examples above only touch on the surface of the possibilities from a virtual field course perspective. In many cases courses are developing modules which take advantage of these resources.

With an ArcGIS Site Licence we hope to offer the opportunities of using the ArcGIS Platform to more students across more degree subjects.