Developing virtual tours for teaching and learning: A template approach

There is considerable focus in pre-service teacher (PST) education world-wide to encourage innovative approaches to teaching and learning, including incorporating information and communication technologies (ICTs) in pedagogically sound ways. While there is evidence that teachers can use communication tools well (email, chat, online forums), developing more immersive information-rich environments remain beyond their technical skills. This paper describes the first iteration of a project intended to bridge the gap between computer skills of PSTs and development of information-rich, student-centred web-based environments. The virtual tour template (VTT) is a web-based template that scaffolds the process by building on teachers prior knowledge and experience of digital media. Initial use of the VTT suggests that developing media-rich virtual tours had a motivational effect on PSTs, encouraging them to be more ambitious and creative in multimedia projects than previously observed. Copyright © 2006 The Association for Advancement of Computing in Education.