interactive, multisensory virtual field trip experience for attendees with and
without visual impairments and deafblindness.
Our first challenge was to bring the vividness of a field trip into the hands of
students who were participating through Zoom. Field trips are powerful because
they offer visitors a deep connection to place and time. As with any visit to an NPS
site, maps provide information about the ways that space supports action,
movement, and important life routines. Fortunately, Steve Lowry's knowledge of
Fort Vancouver and the many excursions he led at the site, supported the creation
of a map of the historic fort that was shared with all students with visual
impairments who registered prior to a specific date. (See Figure 1).
Next to offer participants access to specific buildings within the historic fort
palisades, a team of graduate students collaborated with Oregon-based expert
Michael Cantino virtually to co-design, produce, and ship tactually iconic 3-D
printed floor plans to participants who listened to action sounds and narratives as a
part of the tour. Through Google chat, Zooms, and file sharing PSU graduate
students formed an active space for learning and contributing to the accessibility of
Mobility Matters, 2021.
