The Merits of Adding Field Trips to College Courses none

Abstract

College courses typically focus on in-class teaching for students as a proven method to impart knowledge through lectures and in-class activities.  However, another way to impart key knowledge is by interspersing real-world issues in undergraduate and graduate classrooms through the addition of various field trips for students to see how many course topics have been actually enacted by different organizations.  As such, field trips help bridge the gap between educational knowledge and hands-on experience.  As defined, a “field trip” is a university course-related, off-campus activity designed to serve important educational purposes and is led by a faculty member.  This article also includes the various names of the organizations visited on these field trips, both domestically and internationally. The analysis in this study covers a total of 434 college students, including undergraduate and graduate, in 18 domestic and international course offerings which included field trips. Student feedback includes key comments that indicate the importance to these students on the individual trips to these organizations and field locations.