Taking the Distance Out of Distance Learning

Kris Morrissey, Michigan State University, USA
Denice Leach, MSU Museum, USA
Nick Visscher, Michigan State University Museum, USA
http://www.VirtualOutreach.com

Mini-Workshop: Distance Education

When the Michigan State University Museum joined forces with Michigan's Regional Educational Media Centers to launch a Virtual Outreach Program, it was with high expectations for taking our currently successful research-based programs into classrooms throughout the state. While technology promised to introduce an edge and a level of excitement to our programs, we quickly realized that the technology also shaped the presentation. The technical structure of video conferencing threatened to coerce us into a traditional classroom style we eschewed for our in-house programs, with the presence of the camera reinforcing the role of the presenter as the focus, in charge of the interaction, and the audience on the other side, watching, observing and occasionally asking questions-–not our definition of "interaction". The technology flattened both our images and our interactions.

Working with our Advisory Committee and conducting a literature review on best practices in classroom education, museum education and distance learning, we are developing our own core principles and re-shaping our Virtual Outreach Programs to match the unique potential and characteristics of video conferencing. We have committed ourselves to offering programs that are fun, interesting, important and truly interactive including physical, social, and intellectual interactions between learners, objects, ideas and technology.

We started with visioning and brainstorming sessions with core staff and aggressively moved towards creating what we hoped would be exemplary learning programs. This session will share the core principles we developed and how they are shaping the development of a new set of programs. We will show video of our programs at the conference and will share evaluation comments. Our pedagogy is grounded in inquiry and a constructivist approach; topics are selected to bridge research interests of the museum and university and curriculum needs of K-12 audience, and presentation includes a myriad of formats matching diverse learning styles and delivered before, during and after the live presentation.

Some of the essential characteristics of the programs include: 1) Distributed social interaction between the members of the audience and between the presenter and the audience reinforcing collaborative learning, 2) Problem solving and creative thinking is integrated into all programs, 3) Continual feedback is provided to speaker and audience through simple activities during sessions, 5) Contextualized learning places programs as part of a larger learning unit focusing various resources on a scenario or problem.

Adopting a truly interactive approach that would be fun led us to an assessment and upgrade of the technology and physical spaces of our programs. New equipment (such as a switcher, document camera and more wireless computers) increased our options and flexibility. Recognizing that the highest quality in the aesthetics of what the audience and what the presenter view, we undertook a number of changes in our physical space and also became more specific in our directions to the sites.

We are on a fast learning curve and our expectations still exceed our reality but we feel that the technology is now our partner in excellence. This project is supported with funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.