By: Randi Chapman
08/27/2019
So you’re about to embark on your next big trip! Soon, you’ll be packing your suitcases and finalizing your plans. How else can you get ready? Is your budget set? Are you concerned about your environmental impact? Are there aspects of your upcoming travels that you can also apply to future experiences in Ontario, or even your hometown?
You can explore questions like these (and more!) in Travel and Tourism: A Geographic Perspective (CGG3O), an online, 1.0 credit Grade 11 Open Course from WorldStrides. As you may already know, online learning is different from what you’ll experience in a traditional classroom – there are no textbooks and no set class time. How can you be success in an online class like this?
We asked three of our students who have already completed the course for some feedback. Eleventh graders Lily, Emily, and Nicole have travelled everywhere, from Iceland to Italy to Croatia, and their new appreciation for travel and tourism was built, in part, by what they’ve learned in our course.
How can this course help me?
Not all students have the same interests (of course), and that’s why our course touches on a little bit of everything! Emily, who travelled with us to Iceland, said, “I’ve never taken a class like this, studying tourism around the world…I’ve mainly been more into art-oriented classes, but it definitely fit well as it was mainly creative assignments and that’s kind of my strong suit.”
Completing this course has set her on a track to finish her schooling a semester early. With all that extra time, she’s considering travelling or working before she focuses on a college or university program!
For Lily, this was her first time travelling outside of North America. She went to Italy, Croatia, and England. Her goals for taking the course were to connect her education to her experiences. “I wanted to have the most enriched experience possible when I went on this trip so that I would have a good educational time on the trip,” she said.
Taking an online course can help free up some room in your schedule, too. Our course helped Nicole meet her geography requirement so that she can focus on other classes during her final year. Her travel program took her to Italy and Greece – that alone was quite a lesson in geography. Add our course to an experience like that, and you’ve got something truly enriching!
What was the course experience like?
Students will cover a variety of topics relating to travel and tourism, including the economy, global cultures, and the environment. Assignments are intentionally diverse, allowing students to create everything from letters to advertisements to social media campaigns. For Nicole, her favorite aspect was discussing travel and tourism with her classmates. “I found that the blog posts that we did where we had to post and answer to someone else’s post were really interesting. To talk to other people and hear different points of view was really fun, and I found it really interesting to hear what people had to say about my work and to see if I could help them in any way.”
For Emily, the content of the course mattered. During her trip to Iceland, she was able to apply what she learned in class. “It really helped me kind of figure out what it means to travel ‘environmentally friendly,’ and help the economy in the local area I went to in Iceland,” she said. “Anyone who takes this course is going to remember the lessons and remember how to travel friendly, where to visit, how to travel on a budget. Pay attention because it will be very helpful in the future if you’re planning on travelling for a semester or just going on vacation with friends or family.”
How can I be successful in this course?
It is important to consider all of your responsibilities before enroling in an online course. Emily, Lily, and Nicole were balancing their other classes, jobs, and sports – all while taking the course. They agree that time management is the most important aspect to ensure success.
Nicole discovered that giving herself a deadline to finish her online work kept her from procrastinating. She welcomed the opportunity to manage her own time in the course. “I think how easy it was to go at my own speed. I didn’t have to necessarily wait for specific things to get to the next part or move on,” she said. “It was a really good class, I really enjoyed it. The instructions and all of the explanations of what we were learning were simple and clear.”
Lily took advantage of opportunities to work on this class during downtime at school. “It’s very easy because you can do it on so many different platforms,” such as on mobile devices, tablets, or school computers.
Emily appreciated the fact she could resubmit her work after receiving teacher feedback. “Some students don’t get things right on the first time. Some assignments just aren’t students’ strong suits. I feel like having that second chance is going to be a huge confidence-booster, knowing that if you mess up something you are able to fix it.”
Thanks to Nicole, Lily, and Emily for sharing with us. We’re so glad, but not surprised, that our course has not only opened your eyes to interdisciplinary relationships that reveal themselves through travel, but given you some good fuel for your future travels.
Travel and Tourism: A Geographic Perspective (CGG3O), is available to Ontario students who are travelling on an Explorica program. Ontario students must have already taken and passed Issues in Canadian Geography, Grade 9, CGC1D (Academic) or CGC1P (Applied).
Click here to learn more!
Questions? Email discoverycanada@worldstrides.com.
Randi Chapman is the lead instructor for Travel and Tourism: A Geographic Perspective (CGG3O). She taught high school English in a very rural school for eight years before joining WorldStrides. She has worked tirelessly to make academic credit opportunities available to Ontario travellers.