Solutions with Technology

As high school teachers, we try to provide opportunities for students to learn in an interesting manner and opportunities that the student may not have if not in our classroom. For this reason, I choose to research and solve the problems that are presented in scenario 2 in our course applications. In this scenario, students will be exposed to a museum that is located across the county, speak with the curators and hold discussions amongst themselves about the museum. Nothing is more valuable to students than such an authentic learning opportunity and without distance learning tools; it would not be possible for these students to experience the museum. As an instructional designer however, we need to be sure that the lesson as well as the course, are set up systematically in order to be effective. According to the course reading, “A critical part of the process is to consider the components of a successful learning system. These components are the learners, the content, the method and materials, and the environment, including technology (Albright, et al, 2012).” In this particular scenario, we already have the content, the learners and some of the material and methods but we really need to take a closer look at the technology or environment to figure out how best to help the students experience the museum.

In order to convey the “virtual tour” or video of the museum, the teacher could use Skype. “Skype in the Classroom” is used in situations such as this by over 60,000 teachers to convey all sorts of topics to their students (Skype, 2013). Skype can be used on smart phones, desktop computers, laptops, and tablets and can therefore be carried around the museum by a tour guide or employee of the museum in order to show the students in the scenario. Teachers are always working with a tight budget and a positive aspect of this plan is that Skype is completely free of cost. Limitations of this plan would be that the museum must have access to the internet as well as a tablet or smart phone that would allow this plan to take place. However, with planning, these limitations can be alleviated. Students would be able to see the images in the museum as well as hear the tour guide giving explanations and descriptions. After their tour of the museum, the technology could be used to hold the meeting with curators of the museum. Skype allows the callers to both use the video feature so the students can see the curators and the curators can also see the students in their classroom on the other side of the country. The curators would even be able to call on students who raise their hand for a question.

Skype in the Classroom has been used successfully for virtual tours such as this situation, online tutoring, videoconferencing, foreign language learning, student inclusion (ill students), culture lessons, and bringing interactivity and creativeness to lessons (Nosal, 2011).

The scenario also provides another design issue of a discussion tool. The teacher would like the students to be able to discuss what they saw at the museum as an assessment tool. To accomplish this objective, the students and the teacher will use the Web 2.0 tool Conceptboard. Conceptboard allows for collaboration through emails, collaborative screen viewing, document uploads, etc. The teacher will be able to set up a topic and students can join in the discussion on the Conceptboard. The website updates in real time and the teacher is able to moderate the discussion (Conceptboard, 2013). This tool is the ideal tool for the job because supporting documents and files can be uploaded in order to support the discussion. In this situation, that particular feature could come in handy when speaking of famous paintings or items that were seen in the museum; the teacher could upload a picture or supporting documents in order to remind the students. Limitations of this tool are that the site does have a fee to use (Conceptboard, 2013).

2013. Skype in the Classroom. Education.skype.com.

2013. About Conceptboard. Conceptboard.com.

Albright, M., Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., and Zvacek, S. Teaching and Learning at a Distance. 2012. Pearson, Boston, MA.

Nosal, Kasia. 2011. Skype in the Classroom. Edcaedu; The World Wide Education Community.