There are lots of benefits to getting our kids online–either in wholly online courses or for fun events to supplement their in-class learning experiences. Some of the benefits that are often touted for engaging our kids in these types of experiences include gaining good writing approaches, learning great computer skills, immersive learning experiences in environments that cater to different learning styles, along with the incredible level of self-motivation that’s needed to just get through an electronic learning experience.

With that all said, though, there’s another aspect to computer-based distance learning that’s sometimes overlooked, but is a real benefit, and that’s just in the inherent access to all the information available on the WWW. Students in an art course can take a virtual guided tour of the Louvre Museum or the Met, they can take a virtual walk along the Great Wall of China, or they can even head to Mars.

The instructor guided virtual field trip allows for kids from anywhere to be able to see amazing sites all over the world, and interact with sites and cultures from worlds away. And, with the advent of chat and video-conferencing software, one can even bring in a virtual speaker (i.e. an expert in a field) to guide them through their fun adventures.