Take away message (in-class post)

This week I really enjoyed our conversations. I think the class as a whole really shared their thoughts, opinions, and perspectives with great depth and openness. Walking away from class tonight, I am taking away a conflicting perspective on virtual field trips and interactive classroom technologies that may function in place of hands-on learning experiences. While I see the benefit of online learning, I do think there is nothing like sensory experiences to create lasting learning memories. As teachers, we must find this balance. Virtual learning provides savings with funding that low-income schools may not have to spend on those types of resources, while also providing opportunities that may not have otherwise been available for a multitude of reasons. Also, I was considering the fact that students who were absent or out of the classroom during this experience would not miss out on this learning like they would in a typical lab class where the experience happens only one time, and cannot ever truly be recreated. However, I think students still need opportunities to experience hands-on learning, where they can see, feel, touch, and smell materials. Virtual learning and virtual field trips cannot replace these experiences, but they certainly do enhance them.