I believe that field trips are an important part of teaching because it allows the students to see their learning "in action." It is a great motivator for students to see what they could be doing in just a short time and gives them that extra piece to the puzzle.
Hi Raymond:
Yes! And reality varies by individuals. Some may like "been there-done that". Others are really wowed by the experience. And that experience can potentially change a life!
Regards, Barry
Hi Mitchell:
That personal touch is sooooo valuable! Even a passing comment form an expert in the field can turn around someone's academic or career successfulness.
Regards, Barry
Hi Keelan:
Highly inspirational and can motivate students perhaps more effectively than hust about any other learning resource.
Regards, Barry
students get to actually get a better feel for the career they have chosen when they go into the workplace to see what its like. guest speakers will give the students great helpful information about the career their in and will give the students motivation to want to be in their chosen career.
Giving students opportunites to develop real world interaction. Classroom is great for prep work, however there is nothing like the real world to give you a dose of reality.
I've enjoyed taking my accounting students to a large CPA firm. Not only do they meet professionals in accounting, who are very encouraging, but most are excited about the atmosphere, the good furniture, the plush carpet...i.e., the trappings of success.
Absolutely! Student these days are very focused on application and feasibility. Field trips will facilitate students being able to assimilate material and generalize to real world situations.
Mark
I agree. Field trips and guest speakers are so important because it helps to reinforce what I am teaching.
We have increasingly been using guest speakers and webinars from professional groups in our classes as well as round table sessions with previous graduates. This enables out students to ask the questions that they may feel uncomfortable asking the instructor
Field trips help students see their career in action. Additionally, if they are scheduled mid-way through the course when students (and instructors) start to lose motivation, field trips can recharge the class and draw students back into the course.
I remember when I was a student my instructor took us to the studio he works out of and it was a true eye opener. Students get to see what they are working towards IN ACTION. It's not some far fetched idea at that point, it becomes reality and a bit of a confidence booster. You know that at some point that instructor had to learn about his/her craft, and that's what the student is currently doing, and to see the progress and end result motivates students.
Guest speakers are always good because it gives a different perspective. Sometimes teachers are so engaged in teaching they are out of touch with the current state of the industry that they are teaching about, so a guest speaker can bring that "real world" perspective and share with the students.
In a way my students experience a 'field trip' every day that they are in clinicals at the hospital. Each day they work and learn from experts in their chosen field of nursing. My job is to help them learn how classroom knowledge relates to caring for patients. I often have experts from other departments, such as respiratory therapy, or wound care,etc., speak with them, to clarify or orient them to specialized areas they are not familiar with. It's a great time for them to ask questions in a non-threatening environment. At the end of the term, I have an ex-student, who is working in the profession, speak with the students. He/she gives their recommendations for preparing for passing the NCLEX exam, the best way to write their resumes, tricks to getting a job, ways to use the time while waiting for test results, realities of practicing on your own, etc. It has been very successful and encouraging for the students. They realize they have what it takes to finish the program, (instead of succumbing to 'senior-itis') and can visualize themselves as a successful professional.
The student benefits from the exposure to the career they've chosen through the proper use of field trips. Having a tour guide that can answer both general and technical questions is a must. I don't use field trips as mini vacations from class, rather the information gathered becomes the basis for a quiz or exam the next time we meet.
There are great benefits of having a guest speaker or fieldtrips in place. The students learn from them and can realize that their instructors know what their teaching, especially hearing from someone else. The fieldtrips that we take put everything that I am trying to teach in a picture that they can now see. It's like the blinders were taken off their eyes and now they can visualize themselves in the setting/career that they will be heading into and grasp more while they are learning because they have seen it or heard it from someone else. Wow!! they can see the light!
Totally agree it helps student see firsthand that you as the instructor are pointing them in the right direction.
In the previous school where I worked, we made field trips a part of the last clinical course. The students had the opportunity to see a large diverse medical office in which they may some day work. They also toured a lab or a large teaching hospital. These facilities are places that process samples they may be collecting or provide services that they may be referring their patients to. I think the students were better prepaired and more enthusiastic to enter their chosen field of work if they have opportunities like this..
Field trips allow the student to see how what they are learning relates to the real world operationally. Additionally, it allows them to see an actual work environment and how individuals work within it.
The light at the end of the tunnel moment I think field trips and guest speakers help to instill. Going to school as an adult I understand is just 1 of many things my students have to juggle at any given moment and time. For that reason I think those tools can help students stay on track when learning in depth biology or pharmacology. The question though that I had was that I have a lot of material to cover, should a field trip/guest speaker also encompass learning new material at the same time, or just schedule the rest of the class around that, covering more material in other weeks?
Hi Jack:
I really like field trips. They can inspire students and in some cases even change the whole perspective a student has about a class. In a sense, it's like they can become really jazzed about the profession in a way they had no idea the profession offered. Sometimes guest speakers can have a similar effect, and knowlegeable professionals can incite enthusiasm into a topic or work setting.
Regards, Barry
