This
week, we were asked to analyze 3 real world distance learning situations that
present unique instructional design challenges.
I’ve chosen the following scenario:
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 art work 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?
The fact that a teacher on the west coast
of the United States would even consider this possibility demonstrates the way
that technology really has “flattened” the Earth and made experiences that
might otherwise be out of a learner’s reach attainable with relatively
inexpensive technologies. As an
instructional designer one would need to know, first, which two museums the
teacher would be interested in having her students “tour.” In February, 2011, Google launched its Art
Project, partnering with 17 museums and taking its Google Street technology inside
of these museums to allow users to tour the museums and view works of art
(Gopnik, 2011). Among the museums
currently participating in this project are New York’s Museum of Modern Art and
The Cloisters Museum and Garden (Google Cultural Institute). The technology allows users to view art work
like never before:
Each of the 17 museums in the project has
provided one work recorded by Google at this ‘gigapixel’ level, but also many
others, more than 1,000 so far, at a more standard high resolution. These still
let you drill down to see a single eye in a portrait or a grape in a still
life. The museums also provide information, mostly in nothing more than
wall-label depth, about the works on virtual view. (Gopnik, 2011).
This type of technology, provided free of
charge, would enable the teacher to have her students tour the museums and
focus on, in much more depth than even if they were viewing the art work in
person, the pieces she chose. With
little more than a computer and internet connection, her students would have
access to these works of art. By
projecting the image onto an interactive white board, the class could also tour
the museum and view pieces as a group and engage in group critiques, with the
teacher being able to point out specific aspects of the artwork to
students.
For a real life example of how Google Art
Project is being used by teachers, check out the following links:
This blog post provides 9 ideas for
integrating Google Art Project in the curriculum.
Educator,
Peter Pappas, discusses how Google Art Project, as well as other free, internet
based sites, can be used to view and analyze historical documents and art work.
The second issue that the teacher needs
assistance with involves her desire to have her students interact with museum
curators. The first step should involve
contacting the museums’ educational outreach departments to find out if it
would be possible to use a technology, such as Skype, in order to speak to the
curators. This would allow for students
to engage in synchronous conversations with the curator much as they would in a
face to face situation. Skype in the
Classroom offers teachers the ability to connect their students with guest
speakers, experts in a variety of fields (https://education.skype.com/guest_speakers). In addition, there is a large collection of
lessons on the site that demonstrate how teachers are using Skype to connect
with experts and other classrooms and students around the world. Discussion technologies allow for users to
participate in real-time or asynchronous conversations and collaboration (Laureate
Education, Inc. nd). This would be an
excellent fit for this particular teacher.
For real life applications of Skype in the
classroom, click on the following links:
This page demonstrates a variety of ways
that Skype can be used by teachers and provides tips for using Skype in the
classroom.
This site offers a variety of tips for
using Skype in the classroom, as well as sample projects including collaboration
among students across the world, author interviews and virtual field trips.
References:
Gopnik, B.
(2011). “Google takes streetview inside 17 museums for virtual tours” The Daily
Beast. Retrieved from: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/02/01/google-virtual-museum-tours-will-technology-overpower-the-art.html
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S.,
Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a
distance: Foundations of distance education (4th Ed.). Boston, MA:
Pearson Education.
