Week 3 Blog
by Brandon T. 0
Distance Learning is becoming more of the normal educational experience as technologies advance in the 21st Century. Digital technologies for learning, such as self-paced learning modules, multimedia case studies, simulations, video tutorials, and communications and assessment tools, can increase the array of learning opportunities for adult students and their teachers. (www.ed.gov 2010) I chose to reply to the second example in this week's resources. Being that I am a history teacher this example was right up my avenue. The history teacher wanted his students to tour a prominent art museum located in New York and critique two pieces of art in which students were then to discuss amongst themselves their critiques. The fundamental issue here is that the class is located on the west coast. So naturally a virtual field trip will allow students to accomplish the task at hand. He/she would need to take a virtual tour of the museum. The museum of Natural Science in New York offers virtual tours of the exhibitions. They also offer comprehensive packages for teachers to distribute to their students.
Many organizations in today's society use numerous venues to advertise to their customers. For example, many organizations have facebook, or twitter accounts which allows people to follow and post comments about the organization. Media sharing sites can facilitate the review of your peers work. The artifacts posted on media sharing sites can be viewed and commented on by a much wider audience than a video sent to a family member or a friend. (Laureate Education Inc. 2009) I believe that for this particular assignment, the instructor should have students blog their critiques. Upon review of the blogs students should then post their blogs to the museums social media website if available.
In terms of the discussion portion of the assignment, I would suggest that the instructor create a wiki page for students to have their discussion. The instructor can create multiple tabs on the wiki page so that students could select the corresponding tab with pieces of artwork that they critique to further their discussion on the matter. Wikis are web-based, making it possible to edit from any computer. (Berners-Lee 2012) A wiki can be an excellent tool for collaborative online writing assignments and group activities compiling information in a single online resource (Simonson, et al, 2012). I would also leave an option for students to create podcasts and embed them in the wiki page.
References
Berners-Lee, T. (2012). Advantages of Wikis. Retrieved July 13, 2012 from http://wonderfulwikis.wikispaces.com/Advantages+of+wikis
Ed.gov. (2008). Technology and Distance Learning. Retrieved July 13, 2012 from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/AdultEd/tdlearn.html
Laureate Education Inc. (2009). The Technology of Distance Education. Multimedia Program.
