Virtual site visits as a pedagogical tool: A review of viable workflows

Virtual site visits as a pedagogical tool: A review of viable workflows

Ms Nancy Samayoa
Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning

Site visits offer pedagogical opportunities for experiential place-based learning. In 2019, as part of a FlexAP initiative, the Built Environments Learning and Teaching (BEL+T) group in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning (ABP) investigated virtual site visits for a large, introductory Bachelor of Design subject. The project’s aim was to develop an approach that could provide students with an immersive virtual site visit experience illustrating the different stages, locations and roles involved in a typical building construction process. With the move to remote teaching and learning in 2020, the value of this project magnified.

This presentation reviews BEL+T’s investigation into the feasibility of potential technologies against our aim of developing a viable workflow for upskilling academics. In addition to technical considerations, these efforts raised critical questions on the relative pedagogical value of virtual site visits, around student equity and access, offering valuable lessons for academics and learning designers across faculties.

This Zoom presentation was part of the Melbourne CSHE Teaching and Learning Conference 2021 held on Wednesday 2 June 2021.