Interactive Tour Design Proposal

Congratulations on your students being selected to display their art work in two prominent New York City museums. It is unfortunate that the students are unable to take a trip to the museum to see their work displayed, as well as, be able to see first hand the other exhibits.However, I have designed an instructional design proposal to meet your needs.

Design Needs Defined

Let's take a brief look of the needs you have requested.

Needs	Specifics
Visual	View students exhibits
	Tour the two museums
Interaction	Museum curators
	Group critique of specific art work

In other words,you want this learning experience
to be as real, as if they are physically standing in the museum.
Additionally, you are looking for the students to learn more about
the other exhibits and connect with the museum curators. Then
lastly, you want students to critique a work of art, one from each
exhibit, as a group activity. To learn from each other, it will be
beneficial to hear and view each group's critiques.

Visual

View Students Exhibits:

The introduction would include a congratulatory statement from the teacher and school district and museum.

Next a museum explanation of the selection process and reasons for bringing students artwork to the museum.

Video links for both exhibits using a panoramic 360 video. The 360° video provides a full scan of the exhibit and will allow students to view their exhibit from a visitor's perspective. Click on the link to view an example to view the difference between a static image and 360° video.

http://www.virtualvue.com/Technology.htm

Tour of the Two Museums:

To help students understand how their exhibit contributes to the musuem, it is important for the students to tour the museum and to see other exhibits in the museum. This will help students understand the museum's overall vision and gain a better understanding of their contribution to the museum.

The tour will be accomplished using an interactive map and allow students total control of their tour. Students will design their own tour. After identifying a specific area in the museum, a slide show will display using a static picture and description of that exhibit. Depending on the exhibit, video may be used to display the exhibit. Click on the link to view a sample of a museum map and its exhibits:

http://www.lamoth.org/exhibitions/virtual-tour/

Students will need to view all exhibits in order for this portion of the course to show as complete.

Interaction

Museum Curators:

Since we are unable to physically visit the museums, the curators have made themselves available using online technologies for us to chat with them. We will use desktop two-way audio/video. Therefore, the computer lab will be utilized for component since each of these computers have webcams installed in each.

Working with the teacher, the curator will set a designated time to meet with the students. The curator will provide a brief prepared introduction which will congratulate the students for being selected to exhibit at the museum, brief history of the museum and why the student's art contributes to the museum, and then a brief explanation of the curator's career and background. Click on the link below to see a demonstration.

http://www.nefsis.com/movies/carousel/carousel.aspx

At this point, the curator will open the session to the student's questions. In order for students' to contribute and play an active role in this session, they will submit questions using the class Wiki. The Wiki will allow students to view others questions and insights and minimize duplicate questions. Click on the link below for a brief demonstration of a wiki.

http://www.wikispaces.com/content/wiki-tour/introduction

After students complete the museum tours, they will have time to prepare their questions. The questions asked will support concepts presented in class and seek additional insight to the exhibits, seek to understand reasons for media selection, and to understand the process for writing the exhibits descriptions.

The teacher will monitor the Wiki to ensure all students are participating and asking quality and valid questions as outlined in the course outline. The teacher will submit feedback using the Wiki so that all students learn and will develop questions meeting the course outline.

Group Critique:

To engage an expert, the teacher will request the museum curator of each museum to select a work of art to be critiqued. The curator will share their reasons for selecting this piece of art with the teacher.

The art work will be photographed from various angles to support the curator's reasons for selecting this art work. Enlarging the photograph will be enabled.

After the students have explored the piece of art, they will then ensue in a discussion of the artwork and begin their critique. The teacher will monitor the discussion by physically being present in the classroom. Additionally, the teacher will ensure the curator's observations and insights are shared during the discussion. The teacher will use art class standards for critiquing and supporting the learning component.

The group critique sessions will be videoed using a standard video camera. This video will then be presented during class so that each group can broaden their understanding of each piece of art and learn from one another.

Prior to viewing the other group's video, students will examine the art work online using the photographed images described above.

After both groups have viewed the critiques, the class will view a video of the museum curator sharing their critique, insights, and reasons for selecting this specific artwork to be critiqued.

Summary

Media used for this interactive tour include:

1. 360° video to view the students' exhibit

2. Interactive virtual tour using a map of the museum and static pictures and text descriptions

3. Wiki for group discussion and interaction with museum curator

4. Webcams for interactive

5. Static photographs of artwork to critique

6. Video for group critique

All these media components will support both the visual and interaction aspect of this learning experience. Students will be engaged to learn about the museum, to gain insight from an expert, the curator, and to apply their learning in a group critique session. The teacher will provide student coaching to ensure learning is related to the course objects. Additionally, students will be able to learn from each other and about themselves when viewing the group critique video. Each component of this course support the learning objectives, allow for skill application, coaching to enhance learning, and to learn from peers and experts.

Distance Learning Defined

Five years ago, I went searching for a degree in instructional design. Very few were offered and some required driving an hour plus to a major city, at least once a week. Eighteen months ago while searching for continuing education classes to meet requirements for a certification, I found Walden and others that offered my degree of choice. In 5 years, my life had changed. I now have two children (8 and 4), driving my normal 45 minutes each way work commute. Therefore, online was the most appropriate because it allowed me to fit it into my family and work life.

My intent was to take the two needed continuing education classes and then decide. I was skeptical of online. I wondered about a few things with online classes: 1) did the quality match the same level of a standard classroom environment, 2) how was I going to learn the technology needed without others around to ask questions, and 3) were the courses going to be too challenging or too easy. I discovered a very well planned curriculum, very supportive instructors, and assignments designed to meet the course objectives. Therefore, I chose to pursue the full master's degree. There are still skeptics out there. Some still believe that online is easier and that the degree does not carry the same weight as a standard classroom degree. However, I truly believe in time, these skeptics will agree that online is just as valuable, and possibly more valuable than a standard brick and mortar school.

Therefore, my initial thoughts of distance learning included a very solo and isolated experience, non-collaborative, and the quality questionable.
However, as we have learned from previous courses and in the content for this course, distance learning combined with the right technology, trained instructors and a well designed curriculum can be a very learner centered, educational, and collaborative learning experience.
Previously, my definition of distance learning was the ability to learn without being physically present at a school, which met my personal needs quite well.

However, distance learning is more than just a having a physical distance, it is composed of so much more in order to meet the learning objectives effectively.

Distance education is defined as institution-based, formal education where the learning group is separated, and where interactive telecommunications systems are used to connect learners, resources and instructors (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright & Szacek, 2009, p. 7). (Schlosser & Simonson, 2006, p.1)

A critical component of distance learning, according to Desmond Keegan (1996) is connecting the teacher and learner through the use of technical media – print, audio, video, or computer (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright & Szacek, 2009, p. 34).

The future of distance learning is expanding rapidly. The Sloan Consortium's Learning on Demand: Online Education in the United States, 2009 report shows a "17 percent growth rate for online enrollments far exceeds the 1.2 percent growth of the overall higher education student population." Therefore, educational institutions need to be prepared for this evolutionary (not revolutionary) change.

Many teachers are not prepared to teach online courses. Online courses are more about a learner centered approach and not a teaching centered approach. Therefore, teachers need to redefine their roles and understand how to use the technology in order to achieve the learner centered approach. The teacher no longer delivers knowledge and content but now helps learners work to work cooperatively and to allow learners to feel respected and valued for their opinions.
Additionally, the distance learning classes need to be structured in a way that promotes a learner centered approach.

According to the American Distance Education Consortium there are some key principles for distance education:
• Learning experience must have a clear purpose with tightly focused outcomes and objectives (ADEC, 2002)

• Learner is actively engaged – learning outcomes should relate to real-life experiences (ADEC, 2002)

• Learning environment makes appropriate use of a variety of media (ADEC, 2002)

• Learning environment must include problem-based as well as knowledge based learning (ADEC, 2002)

• Learning experiences should support interaction and the development of communities of interest (ADEC, 2002)

Distance education is now and present, so educators need to be prepared to meet the learners' needs by training teachers to deliver distance classes and to provide the technology to meet the needs of distance education.

To see a different perspective, view my mind map.

References:

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a

            distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

Allen, I. E. & Seaman, J. (2010), Learning on demand: Online education in the United States,

            2009. Retrieved from

http://sloanconsortium.org/publications/survey/pdf/learningondemand.pdf.

American Distance Education Consortium, (2002), ADEC guiding principles for distance

learning. Retrieved from

http://www.adec.edu/admin/papers/distance-learning_principles.html