Mission, Money, and Authority, Part One by Cynthia Robinson Tina R Nolan

Author:Cynthia Robinson, Tina R Nolan [Cynthia Robinson, Tina R Nolan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781598748512
Goodreads: 17738692
Publisher: Left Coast Press
Published: 2010-06-30T00:00:00+00:00

WHY ONLINE LEARNING FOR MUSEUMS?

When online learning was first developed by institutions of higher learning over two decades ago, some saw this new learning format as anonymous, isolated, and a poor substitute for the traditional classroom experience. During those early years the burgeoning tools of the Web were quite basic by today’s standards: text-only bulletin boards, and a lack of images and multimedia painted a very impersonal landscape for learning. Alternative methods for distance learning had been in use, such as videoconferencing (still in use today by some museums), but they too had limitations, as both the content provider and the visitors must possess specialized equipment. Web-based technologies are increasingly the means through which educational providers are reaching learners, and the range of tools and online platforms multiplies on an almost daily basis. From synchronous technologies such as live webinars to asynchronous collaborative environments, educators and learners can interact and work together, and simultaneously develop an online social presence that facilitates personal connection and community.

It is beyond the scope of this article to provide in detail the diverse and plentiful educational benefits that online learning can offer. Here are just a few:

1.

Access, outreach, and extended educational encounters. Although there is still a significant digital divide, more and more people across the globe use the Internet as their primary mode of accessing information and communicating with others. For museums with a national or international mission, this elevates the possibilities of interaction to a much larger scale. Institutions with a local or regional focus may find that their museum’s new online presence places them in contact with new visitors that may not have been familiar with the museum. Online learning offers ways to connect, communicate, and collaborate with visitors, either as blended (online and on-site) experiences, or standalone programs.

2.

The ability to inquire, document, archive. Online learning can be a new opportunity to learn more about our visitors. Rather than solely relying on quantitative data from the gate count (physical or virtual), we can now connect with these visitors online to ask them about their interests and ideas as we develop programs. We can test, develop and pilot online education programs, and assess with immediately accessible data. These online interactions can efficiently and effectively document participants’ reactions, thoughts, and opinions, and help us clearly see a learner’s pre-program knowledge of a topic and how it develops over time.

3.

Online learning reflects how our visitors communicate. As the use of e-mail, instant messaging, Web conferencing, texting and other digital means of communication increases, museums should be responsive not only to how these new technologies function, but how they are transforming the ways that people interact and communicate. Since museums place great value on communicating with visitors by “speaking their language” both literally and metaphorically, as museum professionals we should examine and learn from these new methods of creating dialogue. Although it is not necessarily the museum’s function to teach technology skills, the types of social and informal educational experiences that museums offer can be safe,

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