Viability of Interactive Flash Museum Tours

Example 2: Interactive Tours

A high school history teacher, located on the west coast of the United States, wants to showcase to her students new exhibits being held at two prominent New York City museums. The teacher wants her students to take a "tour" of the museums and be able to interact with the museum curators, as well as see the artwork on display. Afterward, the teacher would like to choose two pieces of artwork from each exhibit and have the students participate in a group critique of the individual work of art. As a novice of distance learning and distance learning technologies, the teacher turned to the school district’s instructional designer for assistance. In the role of the instructional designer, what distance learning technologies would you suggest the teacher use to provide the best learning experience for her students?

While I find the project inspiring and really interesting, the teacher seems to have a very wide idea of what she wants but it does not seem tied to standards for a history class as museums often exhibit modern artists which may not fit into any of her standards in history. As a former world history teacher in Arizona, I had standards that addressed artists in certain eras like the Renaissance or northern Renaissance.  However, there were not standards that addressed art appreciation. 

The undertaking of an interactive online tour of museums in New York City requires a lot of research as well as a lot of help from the curators at those museums who may not find the value in it for the museum.  First, as an ID helping this teacher I would visit the websites of the two museums and see if they already offer tours.  Some museums do while some only offer tours of one of the exhibits at their museums.  Second, as an ID I would need the objectives from the teacher.  If she is only trying to show them artwork in order for her students to learn how to critique art there maybe alternatives like creating a flash presentation of many different artists from specific times in history that she would be covering.  An analysis could then happen that aligns with her time period.  For example artwork created during the Reformation in Europe would be very different than artwork created during Czar Nicholas Romanv’s reign in Russia.  Thirdly, if she wants to interact with the curators a conference would have to occur between the curator, teacher and ID to understand what she is hoping to get from their interaction with the museum. 

The other aspect to consider is the student’s perspective.  The student needs to see a direct correlation between their history course and this interactive online tour.  Without a direct correlation they may be doing something that is cool but it is not enhancing their understanding of the standards (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright & Zvacek, 2012).  Therefore, again alternatives to the original idea may need to be considered.

Once the objectives are set there are few technologies that could be utilized if the project was to go on.  A Flash animation of the pieces could be created with the help of the museums that show each piece of art with the placard that hangs next to the artwork in the museum to provide the students with additional information.  Once the flash animation is created each student could create a blog that they must post to so many times in a semester that is a live journal of the pieces the student has viewed and their critiques of those pieces.  The curators from the museums could reply to those blogs with feedback, thoughtful questions and additional information for the students to consider.  Another way to approach the interaction with the curator is to find out if the curator has a blog or could create a blog for the students to post to and learn from.

Resources to help create a Flash Interactive Video

http://tv.adobe.com/product/flash/

Resources for alternative museums that already have interactive websites:

http://www.ted.com/talks/amit_sood_building_a_museum_of_museums_on_the_web.html

http://mrssmoke.onsugar.com/Best-Online-Interactive-Museum-Exhibits-Students-2871369

References:

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

Defining Distance Learning/ Not cut and dry

Learning is not just books anymore.

Over the past decade that I have been taking online classes I have been a part of several different types of courses.  One winter intersession course I took at Arizona State University two meetings the first was to go over the coursework and the last was to take the final essay exam. The rest of the learning was on the students.  I had a few courses where you were allowed to turn in assignments whenever you wanted as long as everything was turned in by the end date.  Then I’ve had other courses where there were things due weekly.  Finally, I’ve had courses which include my Walden studies in which there were many facets to the course and several deadlines a week and included discussion forums.  These experiences have led me to the definition of distance learning as learning coursework on my own time schedule without having to attend a physical university classroom. 

The definition of distance learning in the industry has changed and evolved over time as well as people’s personal concepts of distance learning. One definition of distance learning comes from Hillary Perraton (1988), “distance education is an educational process in which a significant proportion of the teaching is conducted by someone removed in space and/or time from the learner” (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright & Zvacek, 2012, p. 34).  This definition to me encompasses what many others have said but in a way that is concise and to the point.  My definition therefore, would combine what Perraton (1988) has said but also adding a component with technology.  Distance education or learning is a process that involves students that learn and teachers that teach but this teacher student relationship generally is not at the same time or the same place and often times is conducted using some type of technology or correspondence. 

Women in Africa learning through radio,
MP3s and other devices.

Each person that chooses to partake in distance learning has one concept of what will transpire and then once they have participated they begin to change their definition because of their experiences.  This is for multiple reasons; a person’s experiences will dictate what their definition encompasses in the beginning and after taking courses.  This is because, if a person is just starting distance learning classes but has a background in computers their definition may be very different that someone who is just starting to learn about computers and distance learning.  The ever-changing definitions in the field are always changing because as technology has flourished distance learning has changed and grown.  You could almost say that technology and distance learning have grown up together and as they continue to grow up new technologies drive new ways distance learning is designed, created and implemented.

The future of distance learning has great possibilities due to the technological advancements of Web 2.0 and technologies that have not been invented yet or used for distance learning yet.  I agree with Simonson (n.d.) that distance learning will have substantial growth it will not replace traditional schools but will become incorporated in various learning environments whether in education or professional development in the private sector.

Mindmap of Distance Learning

References:

Africa Educational Trust. (2008). Women Learning. Retrieved on September 8, 2012 from http://www.africaeducationaltrust.org/what-we-do/alternative-education-basic-skills.html

Business Access.  (2012). Books with Mouse. Retrieved on September 8, 2012 from http://www.business-access.com/ba/Results/white_papers

Simonson, M.,(n.d.). Distance education: the next generation. Retrieved on September 8, 2012 from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_1373692_1%26url%3D

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

 

Distance Learning

This blog was created for another course at Walden, however, I will be using it for this Distance Learning course as well. 

I am a high school teacher whose lucky enough to teach Graphic Design to 5 full classes of students.  I'm also a yearbook advisor.  I am married and have two children and one on the way - hence the 2.5 in my title :). 

I have been looking forward to this class since I started the Master's program in ID and Technology last August.  I look forward to learning a lot about distance learning in all of it's facets.