This Educational Travel program is structured to enable teachers who are creating their own travel plans to develop and carry out their own travel study course – whether traveling locally or internationally. Travel becomes both a deeper learning opportunity and an engaging teachable event as they research, view, study and reflect on the locales visited.By using the course assignments as a guide, the experience will expand the teachers’ understanding and appreciation of the relevance of the specific site being explored. This approach will enhance the teaching of specific assigned educational standards.
If you are traveling with an organized Educational Travel company like Academic Expeditions, Reality Tours, EF Tours, Road Scholars, etc., then you might be interested in another of our travel courses. Please let me know and I will send you that information.
Because this is an Instructor-Coached course, the start time begins on the enrollment date. To begin the process, students will register for at least one semester unit. They will send the instructor a tentative travel itinerary and their areas of study interest. The instructor will collaborate with the student and together they will establish any additional units that they may be able to earn available for the planned travel study trip. If additional units are warranted the student will then enroll for the additional units as agreed upon.
The fee for this course covers only the cost of the course tuition and one official transcript that will be mailed upon successful course completion and grading. All travel expenses and/or admission fees are the responsibility of the student.
NOTE: This course can be taken multiple times, as the content and course numbers are changed for future trips.
Course Objectives
Students will:
- Demonstrate knowledge personally obtained from the travel experience
- Outline how the travel experience expanded teaching resources
- Indicate the pre & post travel research information used to prepare for and to deepen the understanding of the visited sites and cultural area(s)
- Describe how research enhanced the travel experience
- Reflect on the travel experience as a tool for deeper learning and creating future engaging teaching events
- Show how assigned teaching standards were enhanced through the travel experience
- Collaborate and share travel adventures and tips with the instructor or other travelers via the course discussion board
Requirements and Assignments*
1. The instructor and the student will collaborate regarding
a. the details of the travel itinerary
b. teaching or content standards that are likely to be addressed
c. how many units can be earned through the travel experience
2. Keep a log and journal to account for the hours involved working on each activity during the trip, as well as time spent on pre trip research and post-trip course work preparation.
3. Include a photo essay documenting the highlights of the trip with brief description of each photo.
4. A written narrative will be submitted about the specific knowledge obtained through the travel
experience
5. List any teaching resource materials acquired from the travel.
6. Summary and Evaluation of the trip and value of the course.
Register NowInstructor
Mary Lou Varni
B.A.30+ years teaching experience. Curriculum developer, in-service leader in the teaching of writing. Taught course on the development of standards-based teaching, best practices and strategies.