Virtual Study Visits: a Valuable Tool for the Educational Process

Abstract

Education is the key to achieving a more sustainable society. In Portugal, the educational systems determine some rules to promote an educational process that leads students to attain specific skills, abilities, and attitudes according to the student profile at the end of compulsory education. Study or training visits are didactic tools that contribute to the link between theoretical content and practice, adding value to the teaching and learning process. In this sense, virtual study visits (VSVs) using digital technologies are a way to promote connections between knowledge and know-how since they have a low cost, require less bureaucratic processes, and allow teachers to make use of this resource within the timetable of the curricular units. VSVs can be used in all curricular units, adding value to the contents covered. This study rooted in the Design Science Research methodology, proposes the construction of an artefact that can contribute to the training processes within teaching. It is based on an innovation idea awarded in 2021 and consists of creating a web portal to promote virtual visits, which may be used as an environment for the promotion of virtual field trips customised according to the curricular units and the level of the classes. It is expected that the web portal can contribute to the sustainable development of the regions, as it will use local tour guides who will receive all the training to prepare multimedia material and deal with each level of education.