Instructional Design

Application: Week 3, Interactive Tours

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?

In this scenario I would first set up a meeting with the two museums involved. To showcase the new exhibits, we would have to determine how we will communicate with each other and show the exhibits at the same time. The type of setting, be it place- or time-shifted, will influence planning decisions (Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., & Zvacek, S., 2015 pg. 137) .The solution will be to use Skype. Skype is for doing things together, whenever you’re apart. Skype’s text, voice and video make it simple to share experiences with the people that matter to you, wherever they are (About Skype, 2015).

 With Skype, you can share a story, celebrate a birthday, learn a language, hold a meeting, work with colleagues – just about anything you need to do together every day. You can use Skype on whatever works best for you - on your phone or computer or a TV with Skype on it. It is free to start using Skype - to speak, see and instant message other people on Skype for example. You can even try out group video, with the latest version of Skype. (About Skype, 2015)

  The instructor will skype the curators in the two New York museums and take a tour of the museums and interact with the curators from the classroom with the group of students. The curators will showcase a variety of art work. This interaction will be recorded, the movie will be uploaded to the discussion board or resources. The teacher will select two pieces of artwork from each exhibit and have the students participate in a group discussion via Blackboard.

 

References

http://www.skype.com/en/about/, About Skype

 How to Make Video Calls with Skype, [Video webcast]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyUG0Tbje0o,

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., & Zvacek, S. (2015). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education.