Taking Cues from Online Learning Offline in the Visual Classroom

Abstract

Theories of online learning can inform how academic museums provide a student-centered approach to teaching. Technology has four main advantages for teaching in the museum: it is open-ended, self-paced, collaborative, and empowering. In order to activate the art works and encourage students to contribute their ideas, I have drawn on the best practices of online teaching tools when designing university class visits. The chance to discuss works among themselves enables students to make personal connections to the works and each other. The informal environment of the class visit helps to produce a student-led experience. Encouraging students to ask questions, following their interests, and making connections between their course content and the objects on view shape their knowledge. Furthermore, these actions motivate them to use higher order thinking skills of Bloom's taxonomy such as analyzing, evaluating, and creating new meaning.