V480.01 Field Trip Policy
Policy
An academic field trip is a course-related activity that serves educational purposes and occurs at a location other than the classroom or campus. These trips function as a complement to classroom and laboratory learning. Academic field trips are university-sponsored events and must conform to the procedures listed below. These procedures also apply to field trips for courses that are regularly taught outside of a classroom or at locations away from campus (e.g., field research).
Sponsored by: Vice President for Academic Affairs Effective: Fall, 1986
Reviewed: Spring, 1990
Reviewed: Winter 1996
Revised: February 2018
Revised: November 2024
Procedure
- Valley City State University defines an academic field trip as
- A faculty supervised activity
- An activity that is listed in the syllabus
- Travel that is a required part of a class
- Travel that occurs off-campus
- A course related activity
- Travel that includes an education purpose
- The duration may be during the class period or longer
This definition does not include activities such as:
- Teacher preparation program activities
- Athletic activities
- Student organization activities
- Capstone activities
- Internships
- Field experience
- Other Practicum activities
- When practical, the site of the academic field trip should be visited in advance by the faculty member, to evaluate possible threats and risks and to minimize these through careful planning.
- Field trips must be described in the course syllabus, and faculty must discuss course expectations related to the field trip with students. In addition, the faculty member must discuss with students any risks associated with the activity of the field trip, expectations for behavior during the trip, and relevant emergency preparedness information. This discussion must be repeated no less than a week in advance of the trip.
- If special services are needed for students traveling with the field trip, the faculty member must contact Student Academic Services no less than 2 weeks before the travel dates.
- Faculty are required to complete the field trip request form (AA-22-2015) before commencing on a field trip with students. The form must be approved by the department chair and the VPAA’s office before travel begins. A funding source for all field trip expenses must be identified.
- If a state fleet vehicle is used for the field trip, the policies and procedures for use of state vehicles must be followed. Policies and procedures pertaining to use of state vehicles can be found at:
https://www.library.nd.gov/statedocs/Transportation/fsmanual20100805.pdf
https://ndus.edu/state-fleet-guide/