Learners

Virtual Museums - Experience what these immersive environments offer today's learners

Explore this activity as a LEARNER

While there are still voids in educator training and technology integration in some classrooms, the resource below require relatively low levels of digital literacy for both students and teachers. It is an examplary piece of interactive digital art that can be easily incorporated into a lesson plan. It can also be seen as a visual literacy playground where students can focus on sorting and interpreting simultaneously-visible symbols and actions. Jones-Kavalier (2008), argues that students who learn to be visually literate can communicate information in a variety of forms and appreciate the masterworks of visual communication.

"Visually literate individuals have a sense of design, the imaginative ability to create, amend, and reproduce images, digital or not, in a mutable way. Their imaginations seek to reshape the world in which we live, at times creating new realities." Jones-Kavalier (2008).

The persuasive power of an immersive virtual environment offers learners control over their activities, fosters creativity, helps them develop a more positive attitude towards VMs and motivates them to engage with a subject (Katz and Halpern, 2015).


Current research suggests a shift towards a model where there is less institutional intervention and more user freedom to construct knowledge based on the students own learning needs (Kampouropoulou et al. 2015). The activities below can be used by teachers using a structured learning plan or they can also be used by giving students complete control over their exploration, thus fostering self-efficacy and increasing motivation.

Lets take a VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP to the Metropolitan Museum of Art - #metkids

Find the yellow and red pins and click to discover.

Next, lets go in a Time Machine where you can create a customized experience, select:

Time Period

Geography

Big Ideas

Once you have made your selection below, press the red PUSH button to launch your search!

References

  • Jones-Kavalier, B., & Flannigan, S. I. (2008, 02). Connecting the digital dots: Literacy of the 21st century. Teacher Librarian, 35, 13-16. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/docview/224888424?accountid=14656

  • Kampouropoulou, M., Fokiali, P., Efstathiou, I., Koutris, T., & Stefos, E. (2015). Students' Views on the Use of a Virtual Educational Museum. Rev. Eur. Stud., 7, 1. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Persa_Fokiali/publication/281358759_Students'_Views_on_the_Use_of_a_Virtual_Educational_Museum/links/568eafc308aeaa1481b03501/Students-Views-on-the-Use-of-a-Virtual-Educational-Museum.pdf

  • Katz, J. E., & Halpern, D. (2015). Can virtual museums motivate students? Toward a constructivist learning approach. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 24(6), 776-788. Retrieved from https://link-springer-com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/content/pdf/ 10.1007%2Fs10956-015-9563-7.pdf

  • Metropolitan Museum of Arts.https://www.metmuseum.org/art/online-features/metkids/explore