A comparative case study of two immersive learning experiences in museums

ABSTRACTMuseum and gallery educators have become increasingly adept at creating environments that foster constructivist thinking, invite interaction and encourage activity. Leading museum educator, Hein, for example, directly attributes Dewey’s influence, describing his ideas about experiences, as a ‘crucial lesson for museum educators: engagement with museum content, that is, personal connection with museum experiences, is important for learning’ [Hein, G. E. 2012. Progressive Museum Practice: John Dewey and Democracy. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 34]. Through a consideration of Dewey’s notions of continuity and interaction, the lasting impact of these ideas is demonstrated. Suggestions are made for closer links between museum educators and teachers as well as ideas for enhancing learning experiences in museums.

The use of immersive virtual reality for learning is a growing opportunity that has so far suffered from limited application in the classroom, particularly with students in the 11 to 12 year bracket. Due to more concern being shown toward usability rather educational goals, mixed feelings exist about the technology’s ability to teach. Meanwhile, historical games usually have fun as the main or sole objective, which may cause problems by diminishing the value of the depicted cultural heritage and supersede the intended learning outcomes of the experience. This research aims to contribute toward this gap by working closely with teachers in developing an immersive virtual reality learning experience to teach prehistoric intangible cultural heritage to history students aged 11 to 12 years. The research question of this study is how to go about designing an immersive learning experience for secondary school teachers to teach 11 to 12 year old students about prehistoric cultural heritage on which very little documented evidence is available. To this end, the Re-Live History project was built upon a virtual reality navigation experience of a Maltese Neolithic hypogeum, adding a representation of intangible cultural heritage in the form of human behavior. A content requirement study from heritage experts’ perspective was carried out, followed by a similar study from the history teachers’ perspective. These provided which learning outcomes can be potentially addressed by the immersive learning experience, what form of intangible cultural heritage can be represented, and what success criteria were to be used for its evaluation. A prototype of the experience was then developed and reviewed by the heritage experts and subsequently developed into the experience evaluated by teachers and heads of department. Evaluation was carried out in terms of authenticity relative to the historic site, ease of navigation, impact in terms of achievable learning outcomes, and utility in the classroom. This ensured that educational objectives were given priority and should help teachers embrace and adopt the technology in the classroom. Future work should pilot the use of the IVR in the classroom and provide further empirical evidence to its ability to help such students achieve the learning outcomes expected by the syllabus.

In this chapter, we suggest that ecological thinking can inform the design of audience-centred and society-relevant learning experiences in museums, with a focus on digital learning. We draw attention to two interrelated perspectives for positioning museum learning experiences: First, their embedding in the museum ecosystem, which includes the collections and spaces, but also museum staff, audiences and the intricate webs of interactions and relationships that underpin the everyday life of the museum. Second, the place of the museum in a broader education ecosystem, which includes formal and informal education providers, learners, as well as other social and institutional actors that shape educational practice. We illustrate this perspective through a case study of a successful long-term partnership between a museum and a technology company for innovating the learning offer for young audiences: The Samsung Digital Discovery Centre at the British Museum. We use a communicative ecologies framework to examine the context and determinants of the Samsung Centre digital learning design approach, how this evolved, and its impacts on the variety of digital interaction patterns that are offered and constantly refined by the Centre. On this basis, we discuss implications for the design of digital learning experiences in museums in increasingly interconnected ecosystems, within and outside museum walls.

Online social networks are largely failing to engage people in relevant interactions with people, contents or resources in their physical environment. We motivate the potential of automatically establishing sporadic social networks among people (acquaintances or strangers) who happen to be physically close to one another at a certain moment. We present the design of one platform intended to provide solutions from the lowest level of establishing ad-hoc connections among nearby mobile devices, up to the highest level of automatically identifying the most relevant pieces of information to deliver at any time. A number of application scenarios are presented, along with conclusions from redesigning a former system that delivered immersive learning experiences in museums according to the constructs of the sporadic social networks.

Augmented Reality and Museum Education: Rethinking Interactive Learning Experiences in Museums

How can we stimulate encounters between students and artworks that are both sensuous, meaningful and transformational? How can we involve students’ bodies in aesthetic experiences in art museums? Inspired by Richard Shusterman the article focuses on three dimensions of the aesthetic experience: the phenomenological, the semantic and the transformational. Together with Judith Butler’s concepts of performativity and performance, these notions are used to discuss the role of ‘the learning body’ in three case studies carried out in art museums over a ten-year period. The study sheds light on how the concept of aesthetic experience can be used for understanding the pedagogical value of encounters between young people and contemporary art. Another aim is to show how the body as locus for aesthetic experiences can challenge traditional understandings of the learning body and to discuss how to develop performative forms of art education that actively involves students’ bodies.

Museum learning is a vital component of the lifelong-learning process. In this new edition of The Manual of Museum Learning, leading museum education professionals offer practical advice for creating successful learning experiences in museums and related institutions (such as galleries, zoos, and botanic gardens) that can attract and intrigue diverse audiences. The original Manual of Museum Learning was published in 2007. The editors have totally rethought this new edition. This second edition focuses on the ways museum staffs (and the departments for which they work) can facilitate the experience in a way that capitalizes on their individual institutional strengths. The goal of this new edition is to provide museums with guidance in developing a strategic approach to their learning programs. There is a close connection between institution-wide strategic planning – where an institution decides what course and direction it will take for a five to seven-year period – and its approach to museum learning. One size does not fit all, and what each museum is (or aspires to be) will affect its individual approach. Thus there are many routes for museums to take, many alternative ways for them to play this role. No one museum can be all things to all prospective learners; they will be better suited to some approaches than to others. This new edition identifies these approaches and enables museums to find the paths for which they are individually best suited, to help them identify their own unique approaches to facilitating museum learning. Each one’s mission and vision, its relationships with institutional and public stakeholders, local cultural and market factors, its individual collection and programmatic strengths, its financial position – all of these things matter. This second edition aims to help each museum find the right approach to learning for its unique situation by showing them the range of museum “personalities” in terms of their being learning institutions, what constitutes each type, and what the implications are of choosing one or another approach for a particular museum. A major theme of the 2nd edition of The Manual of Museum Learning is museum as connector; the ways in which museums are facilitating self-directed learning by connecting people with resources. Not all will connect audiences with learning vehicles in the same way. If museum learning is affective learning, then it is the role of the museum to connect its visitors, program participants and others who benefit from its knowledge to the learning resources that best suit the institution’s strengths and matches them to the learning needs of the museum’s audiences. By connecting users to the resources they are most interested in, or which best suit each individual’s particular learning styles, museums are at their best when they empower individuals to design their own learning experience in ways that resonate best with each individual.

Research in both laboratory and museum settings suggests that children’s exploration and caregiver–child interaction relate to children’s learning and engagement. Most of this work, however, takes a third-person perspective on children’s exploration of a single activity or exhibit, and does not consider children’s perspectives on their own exploration. In contrast, the current study recruited 6-to 10-year-olds (N = 52) to wear GoPro cameras, which recorded their first-person perspectives as they explored a dinosaur exhibition in a natural history museum. During a 10-min period, children were allowed to interact with 34 different exhibits, their caregivers and families, and museum staff however they wished. Following their exploration, children were asked to reflect on their exploration while watching the video they created and to report on whether they had learned anything. Children were rated as more engaged when they explored collaboratively with their caregivers. Children were more likely to report that they learned something when they were more engaged, and when they spent more time at exhibits that presented information didactically rather than being interactive. These results suggest that static exhibits have an important role to play in fostering learning experiences in museums, potentially because such exhibits allow for more caregiver–child interaction.

Purpose This study aims to investigate the effects of immersive and meaningful experiences on behavioral intentions through satisfaction in digital museums. In addition, it explores whether and under what conditions immersive experiences can promote meaningful experiences. Design/methodology/approach A survey was conducted at the Grand Canal Museum in China, and data were collected from 351 respondents. The data were analyzed using CB-SEM. Findings Both immersive and meaningful experiences significantly and positively influence visitor satisfaction. Satisfaction has a significant positive effect on behavioral intentions. Immersive experiences positively affect meaningful experiences, and cognitive load plays a moderating role in this process. Practical implications This study contributes to advancing theoretical understanding of immersive experience in digital museums and provides practical insights into the effective application of immersive digital technologies in enhancing user engagement and satisfaction. Originality/value This study innovatively categorizes digital museum visitor experiences into immersive and meaningful experiences and addresses the question of whether and under what conditions immersive experiences can enhance meaningful experiences. Additionally, it proposes a comprehensive framework that explains how these experiences shape behavioral intentions in digital museum contexts.

In addition to addressing a number of topical and controversial SSI (health hazards associated with mobile phones, xenotransplantation, stem cell research, GM foods, and the like), the curriculum needs to turn the critical spotlight on science itself. In particular, encouraging students to direct careful and critical attention to the role and status of scientific knowledge, the procedures by which scientific knowledge is generated, validated and disseminated, the language in which it is communicated to other scientists, students and the wider public, the values that underpin the conduct of scientists, the moral-ethical issues raised by contemporary scientific developments, and the wider social, political and economic climate in which science is practised. If teachers are to present science and scientific practice in a critical light, they need reliable information about the kind of understanding their students are likely to have already. Methods for ascertaining those views, including questionnaires and surveys, interviews, small group discussions, writing tasks and classroom observations (particularly in the context of hands-on activities), have been extensively reviewed by Hodson (2008, 2009a) and will not be revisited here. While it is always dangerous to generalize from research findings, it is fair to say, as noted in chapter 2, that many students (and their teachers) hold confused, confusing, misleading or downright false views about science, scientists and scientific practice36, views that are compounded by similarly inadequate/unsatisfactory views located in science textbooks and curriculum materials, projected via the so-called "hidden curriculum", encountered through informal learning experiences in museums, zoos and science centres, and promulgated by the popular media.

ABSTRACTAs part of an exploratory research study, museum professionals were asked to share their stories about pivotal learning experiences in museums. Several offered personal narratives of how they first became interested in museums and started down the path toward careers in museum work, or had their imaginations opened to the possibility of broader life horizons. This group of stories seemed to be grounded in particularly vivid memories and frequently elicited strong emotions in the telling. The narratives are evidence of the impact of early museum experiences on people who later found their way into museum careers, and suggest avenues for further study of the roots of museum careers as well as other ways museums profoundly affect people's lives. The stories can also reveal to the teller, as well as to researchers and others, what stands out in their memories and the importance they assign to those memories. By attending to the thematic and emotional content of these narratives, both narrator and colleagues can find clues about where their beliefs and values really lie and, therefore, where their and the profession's time and resources might be most productively invested.

With the rapid advancement of digital technologies, traditional art museums are confronting a significant transformation from static displays toward intelligent, personalized experiences. The integration of intelligent technologies has created unprecedented possibilities for immersive museum experiences; however, how to effectively regulate visitor emotions through environmental interaction design and achieve harmonious integration of technology and humanities remains a critical issue requiring urgent resolution. This study focuses on immersive experiences in intelligent art museums and systematically explores the impact mechanisms of environmental interaction design on visitor emotional regulation. Employing mixed research methods, we conducted in-depth analysis of physiological responses, psychological states, and behavioral performances of 240 participants under different interaction design modalities. The research constructed a multimodal perceptual interaction theoretical model, revealing the synergistic enhancement mechanisms of multisensory stimuli including visual, auditory, and tactile elements; established an adaptive spatial response system that maintains emotional stability through intelligent lighting adjustment, environmental temperature and humidity control, and visitor flow density management; and developed a personalized regulation mechanism based on real-time emotion recognition, integrating emotion monitoring, content recommendation, and proactive intervention strategies to form a closed-loop feedback system. Research findings indicate that multimodal fusion interaction significantly enhances visitor emotional engagement, with the five-modal integrated system achieving 94.7% accuracy in emotion recognition; adaptive spatial response increased visitor comfort by 33.8% while reducing stress levels by 57.4%; and the personalized regulation mechanism shortened emotional recovery time by 58.3% with a regulation success rate of 86.7%. This study provides scientific foundation for intelligent museum design, contributes theoretical innovation and practical guidance for the integrated development of culture and technology, while emphasizing attention to technological ethics and social impacts, highlighting the balanced development of technology and humanistic care.

There is growing interest in the nature of the museum experience among researchers in the fields of art and museum education.1 The museum experience is broadly defined by John Falk and Lynn Dierking as all that transpires between the person's first thought of visiting a museum, through the actual visit, and then beyond, when the museum experience remains only in memory.2 Additionally, they propose that this experience varies from individual to individual and, in fact, is dependent upon the interaction between the personal context (the visitor's life experiences, interests, and expectations), the social context (whether the individual visits the museum alone, with friends or family, or as part of a large group), and the physical context (the architecture, atmosphere, and objects on display within the museum). Falk and Dierking explain: Each visitor's experience is different, because each brings his own personal and social contexts, because each is differently affected by the physical context, and because each makes choices as to which aspects of that context to focus on.3 They believe that museum educators must understand the museum experience from the perspective of the visitor and have conducted numerous studies in which each of these contexts are controlled in order to determine significance. The two researchers are also engaged in studies of long-term recall of museum experiences in an effort to discover those aspects of a museum experience that are remembered over time.

Artful Moments: Building Museum Experiences for People Living with Dementiais a resource to support museums in creating programs for people living with dementia that are person-centered, empowering and responsive. It is based on the Art Gallery of Hamilton’s long-standingArtful Momentsprogram and is the result of the learning and experiences the authors have had in offering creative programs for people throughout their journey with dementia. Combining specialized strategies for dementia care with museum-based activities,Artful Momentsexplores how museum can open up a world of in-the-moment engagement and enjoyment for the participants with dementia, while providing opportunities for social connection and shared experience with loved ones and peers. This book combines the knowledge of experienced practitioners in museum education and healthcare, introducing a proven program methodology that considers the museum experience as a whole, and using strategies to support engagement, ultimately achieving improved wellbeing for participants. The authors understand and embrace the idea that each museum is unique, bringing their own site, collections and activities to their work. In this ‘how-to guide’, they present a knowledge base and a planning process that is broadly applicable to any museum site, whether an art gallery, history museum, historical site, botanical garden, zoo or more.

Traditional approaches to learning have often focused upon knowledge transfer strategies that have centred on textually‐based engagements with learners, and dialogic methods of interaction with tutors. The use of virtual worlds, with text‐based, voice‐based and a feeling of ‘presence’ naturally is allowing for more complex social interactions and designed learning experiences and role plays, as well as encouraging learner empowerment through increased interactivity. To unpick these complex social interactions and more interactive designed experiences, this paper considers the use of virtual worlds in relation to structured learning activities for college and lifelong learners. This consideration necessarily has implications upon learning theories adopted and practices taken up, with real implications for tutors and learners alike. Alongside this is the notion of learning as an ongoing set of processes mediated via social interactions and experiential learning circumstances within designed virtual and hybrid spaces. This implies the need for new methodologies for evaluating the efficacy, benefits and challenges of learning in these new ways. Towards this aim, this paper proposes an evaluation methodology for supporting the development of specified learning activities in virtual worlds, based upon inductive methods and augmented by the four‐dimensional framework reported in a previous study.The study undertaken aimed to test the efficacy of the proposed evaluation methodology and framework, and to evaluate the broader uses of a virtual world for supporting lifelong learners specifically in their educational choices and career decisions. The paper presents the findings of the study and considers that virtual worlds are reorganising significantly how we relate to the design and delivery of learning. This is opening up a transition in learning predicated upon the notion of learning design through the lens of ‘immersive learning experiences’ rather than sets of knowledge to be transferred between tutor and learner. The challenges that remain for tutors rest with the design and delivery of these activities and experiences. The approach advocated here builds upon an incremental testing and evaluation of virtual world learning experiences.