Example 2: Interactive Tours
 

 I was really thinking about how students would be able to visit and art museum without actually attending the museum physically! Well, apparently Google Art Project offers virtual tours to the world’s top art museums (technology)! Therefore, as instructional designers we would need to decide which form of distance learning technologies would best fit the teacher outcome.

To address the best learning technologies for the best learning outcomes for the high school teacher; therefore, “learning outcomes are those observable, measurable behaviors that are consequence of online instruction”(Simonson n.d). The learning outcomes:

1.Tour of the museum 
2.Interact with museum curators 
3.See the art work on display 
4. Participate in a group critique

Tour of the museum

Since the teacher wanted the students to experience the two prominent New York museum and they were located on the west coast; the best for of technology would be the virtual tour by A Street View feature by “Google that lets viewers take a 360-degree virtual look into selected galleries. Users can click from a view of an entire gallery to a close-up look at one of the pieces inside it” (Art Project by Google).  Therefore, the students would need to use a two-way audio/video using a desktop or laptop because “streaming video is becoming more widely used in traditional as well as distance education classes” ( Simonson n.d). In addition, Mullins- Dove ( 2006) “ describes streaming video as using the internet to allow video and audio content to play, or stream, as it is downloaded from a remote source”.   As instructional designer, I would suggest that the students use the computer lab or if they have the technology capabilities to desktops or individual laptops. Therefore, by using Google Street View the students will be able to tour any select museum in New York and allowing them to interact with the curator while using the Google Street View.  In addition, the students will be able to see the artwork on display and select various artworks that they like.  Another technology that could be use would be for the teacher to create a classroom blog that the students could respond to the different artwork selected by the teacher.  The students will be able engage in group discussions with the blog about the various artwork that the teacher posted and the artwork that they liked themselves. According to Blog in Education the educational benefit of  blogging are, “Educational Benefits Gives students the opportunity to communicate and collaborate with people from around the world Provides a larger audience for student writing Provides an authentic writing experience Postings can be created any time, any place Improves student motivation for writing and quality of writing Gives students opportunity for feedback outside of the classroom”.

Technologies for the teacher to use:

       Desktops  or laptops

2     Google Street View- internet- http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/innovation/02/02/google.streetview.art/

3     Classroom Blog – for all the student to respond to different artwork posted by the teacher; sample of a classroom blog below

http://wparena.com/themes/wordpress-theme-for-educational-websites/

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. 

Mullin-Dove, T. (2006). Streaming video and distance education. Distance Learning, 3(4), 65-71. 

Blogs in Education. http://awd.cl.uh.edu/blog/