The first steps for an instructional designer is to identify the task, target audience, expected outcomes, and then develop a plan. I have been given the following scenario to work with interactive tours:
“A high school history teacher, located on the west coast of the United States, wants to showcase to her students the 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 technologies, the teacher turned to the school district’s instructional designer for assistance.”
Points to keep in mind when developing a plan for this scenario is the comfort level of the teacher in working with technology, resources that are available, as well as the audience, high school students. These factors determine how to provide an effective and meaningful educational experience for the students. From the scenario it is clear that the teacher has a goal to enhance the students learning and willingness to learn about technologies that will help her, however she is a novice.
The students have several components that they will be completing. First, the teacher wants the students to take a “tour.” She wants them to feel as if they are walking through the museum, not just looking at pictures. When Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, and Zvacek (2012) spoke of Edgar Dale’s Cone of Experience, it stated “the critical job of the educator, especially the designer of distance education materials, is to be only as realistic as needed in order for learning to effectively occur” (pg. 92). As the designer you want to meet the needs of the teacher and not allow too much exposure to distract from the objective. Given the students are in high school, they should have the experience and ability to handle what Dale’s Cone of Experience categorizes as the top three levels of abstraction, the act of doing. The three levels are: dramatized – involving, contrived – representations of reality, and direct purposeful – multisensory (pg. 93). For these high school students the teacher would like them to experience a representation of reality since they are unable to visit the museums in New York.
Museum Virtual Tour
The teacher’s would like for the students to interact with the curator, “tour” two museum’s exhibits and follow up with critiques of artwork. For this project I would suggest that the teacher utilize a virtual tour that a prominent museum, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, has established to bring the art from their museum to those around the world. Depending on how the museum’s tour is set up, there may be a way to interact with a curator through a chat or comments and if not, then students may need to utilize email. The potential pitfalls of interaction will emerge when the technology established of the museum is known. A well established museum will likely be prepared for such communication when it comes to education. Given the teacher’s experience, it is best to use resources that are available rather than creating new or “reinventing the wheel.” A virtual tour can be established using PowerPoint or other tools, however it is time consuming to learn or find templates in addition to the work that a teacher does every day. As an educator, I find it likely that she will be limited on resources, such as time, to complete this project, so I would suggest she find a museum that has an establish virtual tour.
Wiki Ways
The technology that would best meet the needs of the teacher’s project would be a wiki. “A wiki can be an excellent tool for collaborative online writing assignments and group activities compiling information in a single online resource” (Simonson, et al., 2012). In this scenario, a wiki will allow for students to participate in discussions and comments on the two pictures that she chooses from the exhibit. The biggest benefit to using a wiki is that the teacher has control over the content. If she is not familiar with technology, then a wiki is a great place to start. It is one of the easiest Web 2.0 technologies to begin, manage, and it is free, the best part for a teacher. In contrast, if the teacher was to start a blog, then all students would need to have an email account and other factors that would require more work to complete beforehand.
Success in the Classroom
Wiki-Centric Learning (McCrea, 2010) describes basic and advance ways that wikis can be used with students in grades 8 through 12. This would be a resource that I would share with the teacher that provides background information as well as ideas that may encourage her to use them beyond this project. In a Classroom 2.0 website forum, I found a comment from Catherine Cabiness (2011) in which she describes the benefits that wikis brought to her 7th grade Medieval World History students. She utilizes the wiki for all her students, not just each individual class. This allows all students to interact with other students, especially those that they may not have another opportunity to do so. Such a success story would be great to share with the teacher as she ventures into the world of wikis. Since this is her first time, I would not suggest that this novice teacher collaborate all her students with this project, however it is an option to explore.
Resources
Cabiness, C. (January 25, 2011). Classroom 2.0: Wikis in the Classroom Forum. Retrieved from http://www.classroom20.com/forum/topics/wikis-in-the-classroom-2?xg_source=activity
McCrea, B. (2010). Wiki-Centric Learning. The Journal. Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/Articles/2010/09/15/Wiki-Centric-Learning.aspx?Page=1
Metropolitan Museum of Art. (2012). Collections. New York. Retrieved from http://www.metmuseum.org/collections .
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education. (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.
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