Museum Virtual Tour using Slide Share

Museum Metaverses

View more PowerPoint from Richard Urban

Urban, R., (2007), Slide Share, Museum Metaverses, Retrieved on March 21, 2012, From http://www.slideshare.net/musebrarian/museum-metaverses

Selecting Distance Learning Technologies

Interactive Tours 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?

As an instructional designer, there are some specific needs of the novice distance learning teacher in this scenario that should be addressed. First of all the fact that he or she is a novice indicates that the technology needs to be a simple and easy to understand application. Something a novice teacher can maneuver, but still look professional. Another key factor is the teacher wants his or her students interacting with each other and the museum curator. The technology tool needs to allow for such interaction where the students can also comment on various art works.

A technology tool that would provide the most effective learning would be the slide share tool. Slide share is an excellent technology tool to provide content that can reach students no matter where they are. Remember that is this teacher is a novice distance learning teacher and in not wanting to be overwhelming with the many possibilities available, PowerPoint is a very common tool used in presentation and will make the use of slide share very relatable. The basic slide share service is great for uploading a PowerPoint or other presentations, but for the need this novice teacher, the slide share pro would be the best option. Although there is a small fee for this service, the teacher is able to upload a virtual tour of the museum to share with his or her students. Students can also interact with the museum curators through instant messaging. According to, Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, and Zvacek (2012, pg. 275), “Instant messaging works well for individual interactions and has the added advantage of allowing several simultaneous conversations to occur, each a private exchange between the teacher and one student.” Wiki Classroom 2.0 (2012) states that Instant Messaging (IM) is a tool for connecting students/teachers in real time. It goes on to say IM uses any of a variety of freely available clients and servers from MSN Messenger, to AOL Instant Messenger, to Yahoo, to Skype (Wiki Classroom 2.0, 2012). Instant Messaging is a excellent for including student-to-student, student-to-teacher, or even teacher-to-teacher collaboration.

Skype is another interactive tool that can be used to make video calling of an engaging tour of the museum. According to Skype.com (2012), Skype is a free, downloadable software package that uses the internet to provide a real-time interactive environment designed for use in distance communication. The novice teacher and the students can Skype into video calling which can display a virtual tour of the museum narrated by the curator. Within Skype as stated before, students can use Instant Messaging to interact with the curator. Skype is easy to join and navigate; it is possible to video conference directly from Skype to Facebook.

A voice thread is another possible technology tool the novice teachers can use to connect collaboration between the students. Voice Thread.com (2012) states that with a  VoiceThread, group conversations are collected and shared in one place from anywhere in the world. This can be done with no software to install. Also a VoiceThread is a multimedia slide show that holds images, documents, and videos and allows people to navigate slides and leave comments in 5 ways - using voice (with a mic or telephone), text, audio file, or video (via a webcam) (Voice Thread, 2012). The novice distance learning teacher can upload the various pieces of art to be evaluated by the students. Students are able to comment choosing one of the 5 ways mentioned.

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.

Skype.com, (2012), Group video calling, Retrieved on March 16, 2012, from http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/features/allfeatures/facebook/

Voice Thread (2012), Voice thread overview, Retrieved on March 17, 2012, from http://voicethread.com/about/features/

Wiki Classroom 2.0 (2012), Instant messaging, Retrieved on March 16, 2012, from http://wiki.classroom20.com/Instant+Messaging

Voice Thread Virtual Tour

Shook, C., (2008), Voice Thread.com, Virtual Tour of Battell Park in Mishawaka, IN, Retrieved on March 20, 2012, from https://voicethread.com/?#q

Defining Distance Learning

To meet the demands of the evolving changes in education, distance learning is incorporated to eliminate boundaries, to include geographical, time, pace, or level of knowledge. Distance learning, according to Dr. Michael Simonson, includes both distance learning and distance teaching. He defines distance learning as formal education institutionally based in which the learner, teacher, and resources are separated by geography, time, and sometimes intellect and where technology (instructional media, media communication) is used to link the learner, teacher, and resources (Laureate Education, Inc., n.d). In essence, because of the infusion of distance learning, it does not matter the location, it does not matter the where, or it does not matter how much know-how; many barriers to learning and teaching are removed.

Despite the current popularity of distance learning, it is a practice that has been in existence for many years. As outlined on the Distance Learning Timeline Continuum, in the mid 1800’s Europe and the United States offered correspondence courses through mail (Laureate Education, Inc., n.d).  I am a product of the 60’s and my first remembrance of distance learning goes back to correspondence courses. Until reading about the history of distance learning, I really never thought of correspondence courses as distance learning. Consequently my first experiences with distance learning would be through correspondence courses in the military during the 1980’s. Correspondence courses were a way to gain military professional development and points for promotion.  I am now still associated with the military; the process in 2012 is far more advanced than that of the 1980’s. Professional development currently is done through online learning, podcast, virtual learning, conferencing, gaming, simulation, various computer applications, and the methods go on and on and are continually developing.

Since my first distance learning experiences, I have advanced greatly to my present online learning with Walden University. Prior to attending Walden University, I had only attended one or maybe two online courses. I had often retrieved information from the internet, which Dr. Simonson calls “self study” at a distance, but there was no interaction with an instructor.  When I compare my first experience with online learning to my current experience, the process now is much more user friendly with quality instruction. I remember having to retrieve information from online libraries that would not allow me access and becoming so frustrated when the internet went down and not be able to complete my assignments.

Online learning now affords me the opportunity to continue my education at the convenience of when and where I please.  My busy life is not conducive to attending a face-to-face classroom setting. I am not alone in this online learning trend. Allen Ury of Everest University Online, quoted that according to the 2008 Institute of Education Sciences' (IES) National Center for Education Statistics in the 2006-2007 academic year, approximately 12.2 million people took college-level distance education courses. Of those, 77 percent were online (Ury, 2010).  In 2008, Leslie Moller, Wellesley R Foshay, and Jason Huett stated that distance learning is rapidly becoming a popular choice for continuing professional education, mid-career degree programs, and lifelong learning of all kinds (Moller, Foshay, & Huett, 2008). We were labeled the “non-traditional” learner.

Reflecting on the future of online learning or distance learning, we know it is only limited by our inability to imagine it. There now seems to be this massive distance learning trend at the high school and even elementary level. Because of my son’s experience with virtual schooling, I am not totally sold on this issue. There was a lack of communication between myself and the virtual school teacher. My son also lacked the discipline needed to be successful in the virtual course without constant supervision. In distance learning there is an expectation that learners take on a high level of responsibility and initiative for their own learning (McLoughlin and Marshall, 2000). Knowles describes in his book on self-directed learning (Knowles, 1975, p. 15), “students entering these programs without having learned the skills of self-directed inquiry will experience anxiety, frustration, and often failure . . .” The distance learning community to include the instructional designer, must ensure certain skills to be successful in online learning are taught explicitly in order to ensure the same standards are maintained as required in a face-to-face environment.

References:

Knowles, M. S. (1975). Self-Directed Learners: A guide for learners and
     teachers. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (n.d). Distance Education: The next   
     generation [DVD]. Baltimore, MD: Dr. M. Simonson.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (n.d).  Distance Learning Timeline    
     Continuum [DVD]. Baltimore, MD: Walden University

McLoughlin, C., and Marshall, L. (2000). Scaffolding: A model for learner  
     support in an online teaching environment. Retrieved March 4, 2012,  
     from http://cea.curtin.edu.au/tlf/tlf2000/mcloughlin2.html

 Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J., (2008), The evolution of distance 
     education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the
     web (Part 2: Higher education). TechTrends, 52(4), 66–70.

21st Century Learning

Kraft, M., (2010), Youtube, How will you teach me in the 21st century? Retrieved on
    March 3, 2010, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvyP-cwpHN8

Mind Map

Distance Learning on Prezi