Interactive Tours 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 her students participate in a group critique of the individual work of art. As a novice of distance learning and distance learning technologies, she has 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?

Classrooms around the world are beginning to take notice of the benefits of distance learning. The Interactive Tour scenario presents instructional designers with a challenge to allow students to “Tour” two museums, look at artwork on display, and collaboratively critique multiple pieces of art, all from across the continental United States. Current technology makes it possible for students today to take advantage of terrific distance learning experiences like this. Such an experience requires distance learning technology, like a wiki, and two-way video/audio capability, like compressed video, to be successful.

To assist the history teacher in her desire to have her students interact with the museum curators, Simonson et al (2009) might suggest synchronous television. The most common type, while mainly found in corporate America, is called compressed video. However, more schools are tapping into synchronous television benefits and are making special arrangements to accommodate such distance learning opportunities. Simonson et al (2009) states that compressed video is mobile, capable of being “set up in almost any classroom […] where there is a telephone connection” (106), and that such compressed video systems have shown success in South Dakota, supporting such programs as The Digital Dakota Network. Depending on our school district’s budget, perhaps our history teacher could utilize a distance learning classroom or a distance learning cart. This type of real-time communication would also be dependent upon the museum curator’s availability. The result, should schedules allow, would be effective.

Finn (2009) also believes in the power of compressed video in education. Because it can bridge students in remote areas with authentic learning experiences elsewhere, compressed video is an effective distance learning tool. Finn (2009) provides three steps crucial for compressed video courses, providing a handout, making an effort to personalize the experience, and assessing/re-evaluating the teaching style. The history teacher, as the professional who is actually in charge of instruction, can certainly help organize the conference. Providing students and curators with a handout of what is to be covered combined with a little coaching for the curators should provide a worthwhile educational experience for everyone. Images of the artwork the curators can provide could support conference discussion as students could see the artwork as well as hear and see the museum curator. Developing a simple PowerPoint presentation with images of the artwork from each museum’s display could provide an enriched learning experience for everyone.

In addition to using two-way video/audio tools, utilizing a wiki, a free Web 2.0 tool allowing groups to share information about a given topic, would support the history teacher’s need for students to group critique pieces of art. While Elgort, Smith, & Toland (2008) warn us about ineffective ways wikis have been and continue to be used, they do steer readers toward effective uses, focusing on the collaborative nature of wikis. In fact, they say “the asynchronous nature of wiki contributions and ability to edit each other’s work may allow the ‘quiet’ student to make a significant contribution to the assessed outcomes” (198). A multiple-page wiki housing two pieces of artwork from two different museums would allow students a platform to post their critiques and dialogue with each other, their instructor, and the museum curators. This is where Elgort, Smith, & Toland (2008) make a distinction in proper wiki use; wikis are not to be used to “create and extract knowledge” only, like an online discussion tool, but are meant to assist students in “working together towards a common goal, […] but actually applying what they know and have learned, and demonstrating their understanding in action” (199). Because students in the west coast history class will be collaboratively critiquing pieces of art, I believe a wiki would provide a solid platform for a deep learning experience.

The collaborative critiques will promote a deeper learning experience as students learn to work together in the two different editing formats that wikis offer, the document style and the thread style, according to Konieczny, P. (2007). The document style is where students refine their collaborative efforts, publishing the best of what the group has learned, shared, and edited. The thread style is more of the brainstorming dialogue where group members engage in conversations and state opinions to determine what the group will ultimately publish. Konieczny, P. (2007) also suggests that because wikis work well with other web tools, wikis are a perfect vehicle for housing embedded images, videos, and/or audio files. Because she can load images of the artwork she wants her students to group critique on her wiki, I believe setting up a free wiki will help provide an enriched distance learning experience for the history teacher’s students.

The end result of this plan will provide students with opportunities to interact with New York museum curators, see artwork on display, and work together to evaluate multiple pieces of art. Using two-way video/audio and wiki technology can make this history teacher’s idea become a reality.

References

Elgort, I., Smith, A., & Toland, J. (2008). Is wiki an effective platform for group course work? Australasian Journal of Educational Technology (24) 2. 195-210. Retrieved from Google Scholar on May 22, 2011.

Finn, J. (2009). Teaching a compressed video class: Three steps to success. Retrieved from Google Scholar on May 20, 2011.

Konieczny, P. (2007). Wikis and Wikipedia as a teaching tool. International journal of instructional technology and distance learning (4) 1. 15-34. Retrieved from Google Scholar on May 21, 2011.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance (4^th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

A Brief History of Distance Learning

During its evolution, distance learning was not alone. Technology has held its hand along the way and is the reason distance learning continues to evolve today. According to Simonson et al (2009), distance learning has gone from a correspondence study, to an electronic study, now to distance teaching universities. With each advancement in technology, distance learning morphs into a wider-reaching concept with potential to enhance the educational experience of any learner.   

Walden’s Distance Learning Time Continuum (2010) agrees with Simonson et al (2009), each grounding the roots of distance learning in Europe nearly one hundred sixty years ago. A Swedish Newspaper offered mail correspondence courses on writing. The idea visited England as Sir Isaac Pitman (1840) taught short hand instruction via correspondence and later established Correspondence Colleges, and it went to Germany where Charles Toussaint and Gustav Langenscheidt (1840) taught language via pen and paper.

Drifting across ocean waters, distance learning ran aground in America, where Anna Eliot Ticknor’s (1873) encouragement toward home schooling gained clout in the Boston area and lasted a little more than a couple of decades. The development of telegraph communications (1897) contributed to correspondence study sending communication faster than ever via wire. Radio (1922-1933) and television (1934-1964) are also notable advancements in technology that contributed to correspondence study as both were able to reach a wider audience than ever.  

Electronic Communications, like some Europeans using audio recordings for educating the blind, helped make advancements in distance learning, Simonson et al (2009) relate. Educational radio stations and television programs capable of reaching unprecedented numbers were being utilized at many major American universities as early as the 1930s, but it was satellite technology (1960s) that allowed “the rapid spread of instructional television” in the 1980s (38). Live two-way communication with clear video and crisp sound due to technological advancements in fiber optic cable (80s and 90s) paved the way for many educational institutions to turn their communications electronic where the long-term monetary savings makes distance learning more enticing. Now that computers and the Internet (90s to present) have been introduced, distance learning in the electronic communications age has unlimited potential.  

In last couple of decades there has been a growth in Distance Teaching Universities, which Simonson et al (2009) would say can be traced back to the University of South Africa (1962) and Open University of the United Kingdom, two of the first degree-giving distance learning institutions of higher education in the world. Distance Teaching Universities offer a variety of students, traditional and non-traditional, opportunities to learn more deeply about a multitude of subjects. We can all benefit from distance learning today because distance learning focuses on the learner. Whichever theory guides the process, the learner, their time, their focus, their learning style, is central to the purpose of distance learning. Knowles’ (1990) Andragogy, Holmberg’s Interaction and Communication, Moore’s Independent Study (2007) and Wedemeyer’s Independent Study (1981) all maintain the importance of effective and positive communication between student and teacher. While much of the responsibility is place on the learner in a distance learning environment, having a positive mentor throughout the process is obviously paramount.

Distance learning, while always evolving, is individual-based learning, separated from, yet guided by an instructor through technology throughout the learning process, which includes a demonstration of a variety of skills that reinforce a system-based instructional curriculum. I believe the direction of technology dictates the direction of distance learning. As technological advancements continue to emerge, distance learning will continue to evolve into something that reaches unprecedented numbers in such a way that individual learners’ needs are met as their educational experience is deeper, more enriched than ever. The hope is that proper instructional design practices are followed when developing distance learning materials.  

References

Distance Learning Time Continuum. (2010). Interactive Multimedia Program. Walden University.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.