Week 3: Distance learning technologies

The 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?

 The 21st-century learner requires educational opportunities not bound by time or place, yet allow interaction with the instructor and peers. Voice and videoconferencing, whiteboards, live presentation tools, application sharing, chats, and emails are just a few of the many tools available for interaction and collaboration (Beldarrain p.150). This lends perfectly to the use of Skype technology for a virtual tour of the museum in New York. Skype offers many free features including: voice calls, video calls, messaging and file sharing. The distance learning technology that would make a live tour of the museum possible would be the video calling with Skype. http://www.skype.com/en/features/ All that is needed is a webcam, internet and laptop or any mobile technology that has a microphone and speakers (iPhone, iPad or virtually any smartphone). The webcam, microphone and speakers are standard in most devices today. Skype would be a way to have a synchronous learning experience between the students and curators at the museum. For students working at a distance, membership in a learning group offers a sense of belonging and adds relevance to the instructional experience (Simonson p. 276).

Blogs would be a good way to share the two pieces of artwork from each exhibit and have the students participate in a group critique of the art.  Each student could display their own images on their own blog or a class blog. Photos can be added within a blog post or if the student would prefer take a video of their art work Blogger (one of many free blog websites available on the web) supports videos. http://www.blogger.com/features Regardless if the student chooses to display a photo image or a video of their art there is space for typing a description of the work.  Within each blog entry there is a comment section. This section would be the place for the critique to be composed and submitted by their classmates.  A blog can be used much like a discussion board, with students responding to prompts, posing their own questions, and summarizing assignments (Simonson p. 274).  The asynchronous availability of a blog is helpful for students to work at their own pace.  Also, they can take their time evaluating the artwork and come back to it need be, as it is continuously available on the Web.

Emerging technologies not only enable customization of content, but also customization of the level of interaction by allowing the learner to choose when and how to interact (Beldarrain p147).

KWK

References:

Beldarrain, Y. (2006). Distance education trends: Integrating new technologies to foster student interaction and collaboration. Distance Education, 27(2), 139–153.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.