KC Field Trips working to enhance accessibility, meaning for students

Uncover KC (UKC) is proud to announce its newest project, KC Field Trips, a free service that helps teachers connect with out-of-classroom learning experiences in the Kansas City region.

KC Field Trip’s overall goal is to increase community and cultural engagement among our youngest generations by facilitating outside-the-classroom learning experiences for every Kansas City metro student. The model is based on giving teachers and program administrators a powerful set of tools and access to resources to facilitate their own educational goals.

For a teacher, the amount of work to research experiences available, sift through the scheduling options and costs, finalize logistics, all while meeting educational standards, can be overwhelming. Sometimes educators just need help identifying what’s available, making a connection and/or scheduling an experience, plus learning what other resources are at their disposal. That’s what we’re here for — to help walk the field trip path with them.

KC Field Trips is powered by a bundle of resources:

• • Explorable Places
  • Trip support through UKC
  • Experience extensions including Clio
  • Share ideas & collaborate via the Heartland Learning Collaborative

Explorable Places

To make it easier to research, discover and book that perfect experience on your own, Explorable Places is an online platform that showcases field trip specific information and access.

Sort of a one-stop shop, this portal helps to inform educators and parents of field trip destinations in the KC Metro as well as the provider’s specific programs, schedules and more.

Originally launched in New York City, Explorable Places also has online hubs in Denver, Philadelphia and Kansas City, with plans to expand further across the country.

Trip Support

There’s a variety of obstacles that can arise when booking a field trip. To help overcome those, UKC staff has been elected to provide the following support services:

• • Curate personalized field trip options for any interested educator.
  • Provide access to direct, person-to-person scheduling support for teachers and providers.
  • Assist with locating and planning all necessary transportation logistics.
  • Identify funding opportunities to help cover the costs of transportation, experiences and other financial barriers.

Experiences Extensions

Some of the most meaningful experiences are the ones that go beyond a single visit. To help grow those options, the project has connected a handful of resources available to the public, including Clio.

Clio offers students an additional scope of learning that can be utilized in or outside the classroom. The mobile and desktop application will guide users to landmarks, museums, and cultural sites, while also allowing them to see images and videos or hear and read about historic events that happened around those locations.

KC Field Trips has extension services that can also locate in-class or virtual experiences, give direct feedback to providers and enhance programming connectivity to core education standards.

Share Ideas & Collaborate

To create the collective impact the project envisions, collaboration is key and the Heartland Learning Collaborative will be instrumental in those efforts.

Built for educators, this network gives the opportunity for any interested parties to collaborate with other passionate educators, helping to make inclusive, inspiring and empowering civic learning the norm.

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS

KC Field Trips has been made possible by the generous support of the William T. Kemper Foundation, Commerce Bank-Trustee.

To learn more how KC Field Trips can support your classroom or an educator near you, please visit here and schedule a free consultation. You may also contact 816-721-5529 or [email protected].