Ball State University's Electronic Field Trip (EFT) Web site, which reaches millions of students across the country, won a national "Best of the Web" award from the Center for Digital Education.
"Into the Canyon," an interactive Web site geared toward fifth and sixth-graders, won the 2005 first-place Digital Education Achievement Award in the integrated Multi-focus Web site category. This is the second "Best of the Web" award Ball State has received out of more than 40 Web sites honored this year.
As part of the Ball State Teachers College Outreach Program, the EFTs are the result of a partnership with museums across the country. The "Into the Canyon" site, accompanied by a live broadcast from the Grand Canyon, was the first of its kind from the EFT team.
"'Into the Canyon' is the first trip the new staff did, and they took it to another level than in the past," Jeff Mohl, EFT Web manager, said.
The site features clickable content that helps students learn about the history of rocks, life in the canyon and the canyon today. Students can find video of park rangers, interactive canyon scene puzzles and a rock layer game that strengthens what they learn in the classroom.
"The benefits of the Electronic Field Trip provide resources for teachers," Brandon Smith, EFT script writer and director, said. "For example, a classroom in Muncie, Ind., can't learn first-hand about the Grand Canyon and talk to a park ranger."
Ball State telecommunications students have been employed to help with the production of the EFTs while being supervised by Ball State graduates. The students assist with video editing and travel to the various sites to help with the camera setup, operation and tearing down, Smith said.
"I got to take field trips when I was at Ball State, and now I get to give others a chance," Smith said.
Best Buy Children's Foundation came to the program and offered to help sponsor it, donating $1 million last year and $750,000 this year, Mohl said.
The Web site requires teachers or district officials to register and pay $75 per school. However, the foundation offers a scholarship that teachers can get without an application to pay the registration fee.
"Some teachers say that there is no way our school could afford this, but through Best Buy it won't cost a dime for teachers," Smith said.
Six field trips were taken last year with three more planned from now through May. The next EFT is scheduled to take place in early December at Houston's Johnson Space Center with NASA, and is titled, "Just Where is That Zero-G Room?" Students will have the opportunity to fly inside NASA's vomit comet, the C-9, to explore the plane itself and learn about weightless research from their classroom.
"It's cool to show kids things that they won't get to go see," Scott Allen, EFT gaming and programming developer, said.
The EFT team is currently developing DVDs from past field trips that will contain content from the live shows and parts of the Web sites. The DVDs are still in production, but the first few field trips should be out before 2006.
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