May 27 Site visit #2

Kristy & I did our 2nd site visit together to Galleria dell'Accademia. Even though we have the Amici degli Uffizi card, we had to stand in line to get in. Fortunately, Kristy arrived just as the line had cleared and we could get in without having to wait in line. Some observations of ed tech use include:

• presence of audio tour
• 4 flat screen TVs with BlueRay/DVD player
• visitors tend to crowd around the flat screens. Kristy spoke to some visitors and confirmed that they felt that such multimedia presentations enhanced their museum visit experience and they would like to see more
• guided tours were permitted in the museum but only by certified guides. One wonders if the use of ed tech could put these human guides out of their jobs...
• there was a virtual kiosk with interactive tour but was located only in the bookstore area which is located near the exit. It was probably intended to promote the sale of the CD-ROM of the virtual tour

Looking at Micheangelo's Statue of David, I find myself asking "so what?" While I admire the beauty of David's physique, I can't help but yearn to learn more about who he is, what he might be thinking and about Michelangelo's motivation for carving the statue... I wondered about the museum's mission apart from preservation of the statue and other art works??? It was interesting to note that there was a temporary exhibition comparing the works of human forms by a contemporary artist, Robert Mapple Thorpe NY (1946-1999)

Kristy & I discussed about potential ideas for ed tech use, taking into consideration how the technologies could pay for itself:

• PDA loaded with virtual guided tour where visitors can annotate images of exhibits and select the ones they want to download onto a CD for a fee to take home with them since photography is prohibited inside the museum and visitors want to take home souvenirs of photos.
• Computer terminals near the entrance where visitors can select exhibits they want to see and the program will plan a route that will efficiently take the visitors through the museum to see selected exhibits. Visitors can then pay to print the customized tour map.
• Instead of using the metallic, expensive-looking customized virtual tour kiosk, a basic flat screen with desktop computer terminal can be used

Final Assignments:

• The final written assignments consists of two (2) detailed case studies: one (1) example and one (1) non-example of good use of interactive educational technology in the museums.
• You can use the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi which we will visit together next Monday as an example of good use of interactive educational technology in the museum (or another one that you may identify yourself). For the non-example, you will have many to choose from.
• In both case studies, analyze the selected museum's current situation using the four (4) theoretical underpinnings/approaches to ed tech in informal learning environment that we discussed on the first day, i.e. Use of Instructional Design for museum exhibit development; Pine & Gilmore’s Realm of Experience 4E’s; Czikszentmihalyi’s Intrinsic Motivation “Flow” theory & Falk & Dierking's Interactive Experience Model/Contextual Model of Learning. Additionally, you may want to also incorporate the reading on "Applying the principles of interpretation to museum display" where applicable.
• Then, for the exemplary case study, careful document the example(s) of exhibit(s) that are good, interactive educational technology use. Documentation should include a detailed narrative of the exhibit(s), images and video (where possible).
• For the non-example case study, you should identify the gap between the current situation (lack of ed tech use) and the potential "ideal" situation (good, interactive use of ed tech) and then as an educational technology consultant, make several specific recommendations of proposed ed tech use. Describe in detailed your recommendations which should include narrative of proposed interactive exhibit(s), appropriate "mock-up" images and/or videos (from other sites that are currently using similar technologies to the one you're recommending which you may locate online).
• Since we're visiting the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi on Monday, the deadline for the exemplary case study is Wed, June 10 . The non-example case study with your recommendations will be due on the last day of class, which is Friday, June 19.