Exploration of Three Approaches to Virtual Fieldtrips for Makerspaces: Experiences and Perceptions of K-12 Educators from Rural Areas

Makerspaces have gained increasing attention in recent years. Research shows that makerspaces have significant potential to enhance students’ active learning and creative thinking skills. Professional learning opportunities, such as field trips to authentic makerspaces, enable teachers to explore maker pedagogy and technologies for innovative teaching. However, not all teachers have easy access to makerspace resources. Virtual field trips offer an alternative way to bring makerspace resources to teachers who are geographically or financially limited. In this study, we explored three approaches for virtual field trips: 1) Group A: Participants remotely operated telepresence robots to move around a makerspace and communicate with staff; 2) Group B: Participants used a 360° video conferencing device, Owl technology, to access makerspace resources and communicate with staff; 3) Group C: Participants watched a recorded video of a makerspace tour. A total of 105 teachers from the rural areas of West Georgia participated in this study. Consent forms were collected from these teachers. Results showed that participants engaged more in a virtual field trip when driving a robot or using a 360° video conferencing device—they demonstrated significantly higher levels of embodiment, social presence, and behavioral engagement than participants who watched the recorded content videos. Results of the multilinear regression analysis also showed that embodiment and social presence significantly contributed to the participants’ flow experience during the field trip. The significance of the findings and their practical implications for educators, instructional designers, and researchers will be discussed in the presentation.