Students from across Australia will be able to visit Canberra without leaving home next week through a program of online excursions starting on Monday.

The free online excursions and learning program is in its second year after it was developed to support schools during the COVID pandemic.

The initiative is run by the NSW Department of Education’s DART (Distance and Rural Technology) Learning team, a regionally based education provider, located in Dubbo, that primarily supports regional and remote teachers and students.

Ten national museums and organisations including the Australian War Memorial, Questacon, Royal Australian Mint and Museum of Australian Democracy are taking part in this year’s event.

DART Learning manager Bonnie Tratt said the virtual events and live excursions were available to teachers, parents and students from anywhere across Australia.

Ms Tratt said last year more than 350,000 students logged in to the program, which includes education-packed events exploring art, science, culture and the inner workings of democracy.

“DART Learning’s online excursions have been provided with leading experts from 10 different institutions to deliver engaging learning about the best science, art, culture and history our nation’s capital has on offer,” she said.

The virtual excursion can be accessed via YouTube or Zoom with bookings available at the DART Learning site.

DART Learning has also created a series of podcasts with T4L and three of the Canberra Institutes – Museum of Australian Democracy, Parliament NSW and The Australian War Memorial. They can be found at T4L’s Virtual Staffroom.