A VIRTUAL STUDY IN HIGHER EDUCATION

A study visit is when an individual or a group visits a site to learn about the context and to exchange knowledge with the people at the site. Study visits are often connected to efforts to create intercultural understanding within a course. Traditionally, study visits are connected to geographical sites: students travel to other countries or visit organisations relevant to their education and training. With the development of online environments, virtual study visits are emerging as an alternative to traditional study visits. This paper explores a virtual study visit. The purpose of the virtual study visit was for students to prepare for a laboratory exercise by getting familiar with the context where the exercise would take place. The virtual environment where the study visit took place was a model of the Foundry School they would visit later in the course. There were nine students in the course, and the results of their evaluation of the virtual study visit are presented in the paper. The discussion centres on the students' perception of the virtual study visit in the course as well as a general consideration of how a virtual study visit can provide additional value in a higher education course. Some unique features of an educational virtual environment, which cannot be achieved in traditional classroom education, are discussed in the paper. The conclusion is that a virtual study visit can provide flexibility in time and space and the possibility to zoom between micro and macro levels in the model of the building. To achieve educational goals, both teachers and students need to engage in the preparation as well as in the virtual study visit itself.