Interactive Art Museum Tours made easy - Google Art Project and Google hangout

Art Museum Interactive Tour Solution Challenge

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?

Solution Approach and Tools

 

In the Scenario 2 Interactive Art Museum Tour solution challenge there are three critical requirements that I used as the foundation for my research and identification of two solutions. The key three requirements that were mentioned in this scenario are:

• Ability for students to see and tour art exhibits over the web
• Ability for students to Interact with museum curators
• Ability for a group critique of two pieces of artwork

Before you select a technology platform and resource you need to identify the requirements and determine the learning outcomes. (Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S., 2012) With these important concepts in mind, I researched and discovered two very exciting innovative technology tools that meet the requirements outlined above and will also enable the teacher to achieve their desired learning outcomes.  The two tools I like to share with you as a solution are the Google Art Project and Google Hangout. 

The Google Art Project, is technology tool that solves the requirement of interactive web access to over 100 museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery in DC and museums across the world. (GoogleArtProject, 2012).  Many schools and teachers have had a great experiences using this tool and FAQ’s posted on the site share the success stories. This online resource enables students from any location connected to the Internet interactively explore exhibits and art from collections from around the world.   Teachers can create their own “virtual” gallery of artwork and share it with their students.  Students have the ability to view the art and have a robust set of activities that connected to the specific art pieces and to modern real-world situations. (How to use GoogleArtProject, 2012) As mentioned in our course text it is imperative that “instructors take the time to plan and organize the learning experience when in engaged in teaching at a distance.” (Simonson, et al., 2012).  The Google Art Project does just that. This resource organizes the art work by artist, collection and exhibit, connects learners and instructors and provides the ability to share feedback using social media tools such as twitter, facebook and Google+. 

Embedded in the Google Art Project is a menu of icons that students can use to share comments, posts and exchange information through Google+, twitter, facebook and other social media tools.  In the Google Art Project the first sharing tool found under Google+ and is called Google hangouts.  A Google hangout provides the ability for a teacher to connect with her students, chat face to face and more importantly a platform to host a virtual meeting. (GoogleHangouts, 2011) The teacher could schedule and invite a museum curator to a Google hangout and students could exchange and communicate with them.  Additionally the Google hangout online tool allows participants to post an image/video and comments. This platform would work seamlessly as an interactive approach to post two pieces of art and students to provide a group critique.  The Google hangout has a limit of 9 per live session which the teacher could group their students.  Another option if the teacher desired one large group critique is to utilize the standard link from Google Art Project to a FaceBook page for students to make comments a work of art.  Both options would work well and provide flexibility to meet the overarching requirements and are free to the student and instructor. 

School Testimonials




In Conclusion

The Google Art Project is a fantastic platform to bring art to life and connect to authentic learning opportunities and exchange of information for students of all ages.

-Michelle Cosner

Resources

Google Art Project by Google. (n.d.) Retrieved from www.GoogleArtProject.com

Art Project how to use this site. (April, 2012) Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVpqTd2ndYY&feature=player_embedded

How to use Google Hangout Session. (July 2011) Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5kdr7N6nPg

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance:

Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson

http://beaconnews.suntimes.com/11697261-417/aus-stem-academy-helps-launch-google-art-project.html

http://www.teachhub.com/google-art-project

Michelle's Mind-Map Defining Distance Learning

Distance Learning a reflection of the past, present and future

As I create this blog post for our course, I pause for a minute to inventory the platform and technology that I am currently utilizing. On my lap is my MacBook which is running the web off a wireless home network, the Walden internet delivered library is at my fingertips with one click, Google Scholar, wordle for my mind-map, my homework assignment delivered by a learning management system is running in one window, word with spell-check in another window, my i-Pod is playing my favorite study playlist. Each day on average 300 new i-Phone applications are released, new versions of operating systems, patches, and enhancements are deployed. Rewind ten years and do you agree that much of this list above did not exist?

Endless technology enhancements and the web 2.0 are changing teaching and learning paradigm from information based to one of social learning without barriers and students creating their own new knowledge from others knowledge. The way in which students collaborate and create learning by using technology and social media platforms are two key factors that will drive innovation and change in distance learning solutions.

For the past 15 years, I have been focused on selling, marketing and managing curriculum programs for K-12. I have witnessed the tidal wave of technology inundating schools and changing for the better the way that students learn and teachers teach. On the teacher side, I have observed many teachers who are resistant to change and use of technology in their classrooms.

From our course readings and discussions this week my personal definition of distance learning has evolved and morphed into something much bigger then I had previously thought. I discovered many new combinations and approaches to distance learning and that there is no one secret sauce or method that works best. All definitions and applications are fair game and lend themselves as providing solutions to match different types of learners’ needs, environments and learning objectives. The concept of a broad learning group and learning community as being linked through learners, resources and instruction resonated with me as definition that is widen enough to incorporate the breadth of distance learning approaches and resources. (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright and Zvacek, 2012)

Two prominent benefits of distance learning are the financial savings and scalability that it provides. “It would be almost unthinkable to perform strategic business functions an other way. This represents transformational, not just incremental change.” (Moller, Foshay and Huett, 2008) In today’s economic crisis, training and teaching must continue and distance learning provides a new approach that is sensitive to the budget constraints facing businesses and schools. (Rapid e-learning)

Tonight if I win the lottery, I would use my new financial resources to educate the world by implementing an international innovative distance learning solution that is free, accessible to all students and provides a platform to unite and engage all learners and learning communities. This is my vision and hope for distance learning.
-Michelle Cosner

 Resources

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the web (Part 1: Training and development). TechTrends, 52(3), 70–75. 

Retrieved from Rapid elearning: http://www.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/why-e-learning-is-so-effective/

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

Distance Learning

Distance learning is changing the instructional paradigm.  This blog is for my distance learning class and I am looking forward to learning how technology and new modes of instruction are changing the education and training landscape.

-Michelle