VIRTUAL MUSEUMS
The virtualisztion of physical museums has increased interest from millions of people all over the world (Wikipedia). The beauty of a virtual museum is that no matter where you are in the world you can access a mountain of information on countless topics, all at the touch of a button. It's claimed that visitors to the traditional physical museums are being out numbered by the new virtual visitors. The first museum to be put online was in 1994. They were very basic and only available to the few who not only owned a computer but also had access to the Internet. An example of the earliest virtual museums can be found at http://moca.virtual.museum/. However, as computers and the internet excelled in their development so did the websites. Some virtual museums today even have the ability to proved three dimensional view of their content http://www.organismedia.com/virtualmuseum/.
WHAT IS A VIRTUAL MUSEUM
All the online museums I visited appear to consist of a collection of information or artifacts. Such things include but are not limited to- paintings, photographs,videos, drawings, letters, newspaper articles and interviews. Basically anything that can be digitalized. They provide everyone with access to knowledge on just about any topic. Seriously, try typing into google a topic of interest and add museum at the end. It is most likely there will be a digitalised museum for that subject.
BENEFITS OF USING VIRTUAL MUSEUMS
Learning Museums are specifically designed to provide an online resource of information which is available to anyone who wishes to learn more about a specific topic. I believe they can provide collaborative learning activities which will stimulate students in content learning more so than if they were to read the facts from a book. This form of instruction is not only accessible to all pupils' but can also provide an effective and efficient form of differentiated learning. They provide an excellent way for students to become engaged in higher level thinking, especially the ones who learn best using visual and Kinesthetic aid.
One online museum that I found particular interest in was The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco http://www.sfmuseum.org/. Having been to San Fraancisco I was interested to learn more about its history and I entered the site hoping to find some exciting facts and useful learning materials. Instead I was overwhelmed by the amount of detailed information available. Anything and everything you could ever want to know about both the history and the modern day San Francisco was available.
This type of museum is a great resource for any class doing a project on San Francisco or even a topic that occurred within San Francisco, such as the Gold Rush, fires and earthquakes, or even megastucture bridges. The website itself I found very easy to navigate, however, I do think the site could benefit from more vibrant images and some eye catching colors.
The overall idea of a virtual museum is an excellent way to engage active learning. However, does this kind of technology take away the possibility to experience learning outside the classroom. Being cheaper and safer than visiting physical museums are more and more children going to start missing out on vital experiences such as school trips?
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The idea of a virtual museum is interesting to me, I had never heard of it before. This is a great resource for when classes are unable to go to a physical museum located in other states, etc.
ReplyDeleteI just hope they don't take the place of a physical museum because for things such as art, nothing can compare to being inches away from a masterpiece and being able to see the individual brush strokes on the canvas.
A digital museum sounds interesting but I think that the actual physical museum is much more hands on, espically with young learners. A digital museum would be good as a supplement to the material learned but as a learning tool I feel as though it would not give the learner the same experience as a physical museum would.
ReplyDeleteI do have to admit that they are different. the virtural museum will allow one to go places that they could not go to. However, part of visiting a museum is the experience of sensing what is there in person. You could move in closer or step back.
ReplyDeletea computer offers a single deminsion.
but if it is to look at something in its context and describe it, it could work.
If being there is not important then the virtual museum could work.