The overarching aim was to offer alternative forms of education, which will also help tackling future educational problems such as those that were caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, contributing to a fundamental change in teaching methods applicable to multiple domains of science. In all offered cases we planned to enrich students’ experience by bringing to “life” geomorphology, geohazards, and geoheritage cases through the creation of virtual field trips. The acquisitions of the following interconnected competencies have provided deeper learning opportunities which are prerequisites for success not only in the university, but also at career level and in civic life: • Mastery of core academic content • Critical thinking and complex problem-solving skills • Collaboration skills • Effective communication skills • An understanding of how to learn • Development of an academic mindset Acquired competencies of that kind has resulted in a better comprehension by the students, particularly while the learning content was interactive and engaging, with lessons coming to “life" and students being in the “field”, albeit virtually.
Through this project, we intended to advance teaching within geosciences, and especially within its subjects geomorphology, geohazards, and geoheritage and accelerate the learning process. These three sub-disciplines require field trips to be fully understood. Through GeoVT, we tested to incorporate field trips into the teaching process, without actually implementing them. This was achieved through virtual field trips, which can be used by all educators and in all classrooms, allowing for students to potentially visit all areas of geomorphic, geohazard, and geoheritage importance.