Online virtual tour takes you inside the Alberta Legislature

Virtual Visit: Step Inside the Alberta Legislature is an engaging, three-dimensional online experience that features customizable characters, as well as interactive educational activities. Users can tour the Legislature Building on their own, with a tour guide, or within a group by visiting http://www.virtualvisit.learnalberta.ca/.

“This is an innovative way for students to visit the Legislature on their own or together as a class and learn more about our province’s history and the parliamentary process,” said Education Minister Gene Zwozdesky. “This is a valuable new learning and teaching resource that will engage students.”

The Virtual Visit replicates the layout, scale, lighting and finishes of the Alberta Legislature Building. Online visitors will experience a virtual tour that allows them to look around and move as if in the real world. The project aligns with Alberta’s curriculum, as well as enhances the School-at-the-Legislature program. More educational features are expected to be added over the next year. The Virtual Visit is available in both English and French and can be accessed via the Internet.

“The Virtual Visit opens up the Legislature to all Albertans, as well as to visitors from all over the world,” said Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Ken Kowalski. “It replicates the current live tour offered by the Legislative Assembly of Alberta Visitor Services branch, and is the next best thing to visiting the building in person.”

The Virtual Visit was developed by Alberta Education in co-operation with the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and is a joint centennial project recognizing “100 Years of Democracy” in Alberta.

Backgrounder
Information about the Virtual Visit launch

Alberta Education online resources
Alberta Education provides a number of online learning resources for Kindergarten to Grade 12 students, parents and teachers. These include:

• LearnAlberta.ca (http://www.learnalberta.ca/) – provides anytime, anywhere access to free online learning and teaching resources that directly relate to the Alberta curriculum. It is the gateway to several multimedia encyclopedias and databases containing periodicals and newspapers from around the world, interactive multimedia lessons, and video segments.
• Learning Resources Centre (http://www.lrc.education.gov.ab.ca/) – a one-stop shop for purchasing a comprehensive range of learning and teaching resources.
• Curriculum Handbook (http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/parents/handbooks/) – find out what students are expected to learn in each grade.
• Additional Handbooks (http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/k_12/curriculum/ParentResources.asp) – various handbooks to help parents support student learning.

School-at-the-Legislature
The School-at-the-Legislature program gives Grade 6 students an in-depth opportunity to experience Alberta’s parliamentary process. Teachers move their class into the School-at-the-Legislature classroom for one week. During this week their Social Studies class might observe Oral Question Period, their Art class might sketch the architectural detail of the Legislature Building or their Science class might take a nature walk around the grounds.

Essay winners’ biographies
This year marks “100 Years of Democracy” in Alberta. The launch of the Virtual Visit project also featured the winners of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta’s centennial essay contest on the topic “What democracy means to me.”

Louis Warring submitted the winning essay from Alberta’s seniors. Warring lives in Edmonton with his wife Molly Anne. During the Second World War he served in the air force as an instrument mechanic with a bomber group in Northern England. Until his retirement he owned a glass business in Edmonton.

Jan (pronounced Yash) Mitsosz Lisiecki submitted the winning essay from Alberta’s students. Lisiecki lives in Calgary with his family where he attends Earl Grey Elementary School. He is in Grade 6 and has already achieved world-class status as a pianist. Lisiecki was the youngest pianist to play at the National Centre of the Arts in Ottawa.