Virtual field trips: Expanding the greenhouse classroom

Field trips have always been a very important part of most areas of horticulture, especially in the field of greenhouse management and controlled environment agriculture since the facilities and technologies used are essential to the discipline. Economics and logistics have also greatly reduced or eliminated the ability of horticulture instructors to use field trips or on-site visits as educational tools. To address this problem, fifteen (15) DVD-based virtual field trips (VFT's) were developed so that instructors can use them to demonstrate to students the most up-to-date facilities, technologies and management strategies used in greenhouse management (ornamental and food crops) and controlled environment agriculture (GCEA). Each VFT includes a preface with background information about the company, a tour organized by subject chapters, self-examination, and case studies.