Week 3 Post

Scenario: A high school history teacher wants to showcase two NYC museums by use of an interactive tour.  Also, she wants her students to interact with the museum curators and see art on display.  For assessment, she wants the students to choose two pieces of artwork and have them participate in a group critique of the works.

My suggestion:  Interactive field trips are very fun!  One of the best parts of the Internet is that we can visit places that are very far away and pretend as if we are there.  In the education sector, this allows our students to gain vast knowledge of far away places, but in a more interactive way.  There are a few ways she can complete this project.

1.     Have the students create podcasts of their opinions of the artwork.  Podcasts “is the process of recording and storing audio and/or video content on the Internet for downloading and playback using iPods, MP3 players, computers, and other electronic gear that plays back audio and/or video files (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, pg. 130, 2012).”  Then, have them collaborate with each other using a forum.

2.     Using an online world like Second Life, you can tour a museum and have the students interact on their platform.  An example is shown in the YouTube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eMa2mYLH70 for the Georgia Museum of Art.  Online worlds are great for interaction and promote online engagement (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2012).

3.     Use an already created online trip.  Just a quick Google search will provide great resources, but here’s one such example: http://campus.fortunecity.com/newton/40/field.html.

4.     Use a program like Skype for students to discuss the art with the museum curators.

5.     Use a free online forum for students to discuss the artwork online.  Here’s a good one to use: http://www.proboards.com/

All in all, I think that this is a great idea for the teacher.  The only problem I really see is connecting with the museum via Skype.  Because this is steaming video website, it requires a high amount of bandwidth.  This may be difficult depending on their network and the school’s network.