Visitor Learning Research Articles

Community-based ecotourism and the transformative learning of homestay hosts in Cambodia

ABSTRACT Ecotourism seldom places humans within the natural environments which serve as ecotourism attractions. Scholarship on learning and education in ecotourism has accordingly focused mostly on visitor learning about wildlife, biodiversity and adventure experiences in ‘pristine’ natural ecosystems. By contrast, community-based ecotourism (CBE) involves local and Indigenous communities living within natural environments. CBE aims not only to preserve natural environments, but also to conserve the traditional cultures of the peoples living within them. CBE involves visitors in longer term village homestays, local guides, and environmental, livelihood and cultural learning. It has also recently become an important area of study. However, while learning by CBE homestay hosts and guides is equally important, it is mostly unstudied to date. This paper reports on an empirical, interpretive case study of the transformative learning of CBE hosts in a rainforest-based CBE project in Chambok, Cambodia. Findings show that CBE hosts experienced transformations in their worldviews and self-identities in relation to three areas of transformative learning: environmental conservation, gender roles and local culture. These are three areas of learning beneficial to both hosts and communities, and key to the success of CBE. As such, they might well be encouraged in other CBE projects.

Understanding the Learning and Innovation Model of Exhibition Visitors

Research on visitors tends to focus on the behavior of the audience before and after the exhibition, while there is little research on the behavior of audiences in the exhibition. The learning and innovative behavior of visitors at the exhibition also reflects one of the basic functions of the exhibition: communicating and Disseminating information. This paper based on the domestic and international research literature on the knowledge diffusion of exhibitions and uses SEM to the established model of the visitors’ learning and innovative behavior in exhibition. The validity of the path in the model is tested by taking Shenzhen Machinery Exhibition as a case. The results show that visitors have different learning behaviors for suppliers and other visitors, resulting in different learning and innovation effects. In addition, their positions, frequency of visiting exhibitions and forms of their visits also have an impact on their learning behaviors.

Botanical Gardens for Productive Interplay between Emotions and Cognition

Botanical gardens are often designed with biological deliberations in mind, such as the need to preserve biodiversity. As in other community acts, functionality is also an important concern. In contrast, the need to connect with human values, such as tolerance, care or justice, and the facility to provoke interaction, reflection and discussion are often sidelined. More broadly, the social and educational aims of these institutions are often placed second in the design priorities, even though they are emphasized strongly in formulations of the underlying purpose and intentions. From an educational perspective, the interplay between emotions and cognition has an important influence on the visitor learning experience. In this paper, we elaborate on this interplay and we explore possible implications (a) for the design of botanical garden spaces, but also (b) for the formative process that emerges from the convolution of garden spaces, visitor expectations and interactive activities for teaching and learning. We introduce the term useful botanical garden and, through analysis, we develop a theoretical framework that provides a cognitive approach for the educational design of botanical gardens drawing on three dimensions: Sensibility (refering to those features of the design of botanical garden spaces that serve to create a sense of welcoming comfort, safety and homeostasis). Functionality (features of the garden spaces that scaffold interactions and cognitive processes). Rationality (refering to the facility of visitors to reflect on six values—care, fairness, loyalty, authority, sanctity, and liberty—and how they relate to the elements present in the botanical garden). We illustrate this model with reference to a range of botanical gardens. We elaborate on how these factors work together to highlight the educational features of botanical gardens and also discuss the implications of this model for the design of activities and educational experiences as well as for teacher preparation and professional development in the service of promoting environmental insight.

Measuring visitor learning outcomes from showcases, video installations, and interactive tablets: an empirical investigation

ABSTRACT Museums employ a diverse range of display models. The most common forms are ‘showcases’ and ‘multimedia displays’, which include video installations and the use of interactive tablets. This poses the question of how the learning outcomes differ between showcase and multimedia displays. Focusing on 308 adult visitors across four typologies, this research explores how the learning outcomes differ when similar information is displayed using showcase and multimedia (video installation and interactive tablet) approaches in two exhibitions. Participants were randomly divided into three groups: namely, the showcase, video, and interactive groups. Interviews, questionnaires, and follow-up interviews were conducted to determine the learning outcomes. Results show statistically different learning outcomes between showcase and video installation, but no significant difference between showcase and interactive tablets. Moreover, results confirm a correlation between visitor gender and learning outcome, as well as visitor gender and typologies, but no evident correlation between learning outcomes and visitor typologies. Besides, this study explores the interaction impact on learning outcomes of 120 visitors who watched both showcase and multimedia and results show a correlation between visitors’ learning outcomes and different display models (showcase, multimedia and double-channel display).

Community-based ecotourism projects as living museums

ABSTRACT Community-based ecotourism (CBE) promotes the preservation of local natural environments, livelihood and culture. Like living museums, CBE is a site rich in experiential visitor learning, but without the purposeful, curated design of learning characteristic of museums. This paper first compares characteristics of CBE and living museums using Williams [(2013) Performing interpretation. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 13(2), 115–126] four-part conceptual framework for living history museums. It then applies this framework to three case studies of CBE in Southeast Asia. Each is analyzed in terms of scenography, characterization, narrative, and collective experience. The paper concludes with a discussion of results, and proposes how local villagers might be able to more effectively plan and design their ecotourism projects as ‘living museums’, while at the same time addressing common CBE project design challenges related to cultural authenticity, commodification of culture, privacy and hosting fatigue.

Communication and visitor factors contributing towards heritage visitors’ mindfulness

ABSTRACTThis study aims to examine the effect of communication factors (e.g. uses of questions and multisensory media) and visitor factors (e.g. high level of interest and visualisation) on visitors’ mindfulness. Mindfulness refers to a state of mind in which an individual is actively processing information from their environment. Past literature has suggested that being mindful helps increase visitor understanding, learning and satisfaction. While a number of studies have explored the effects of communication factors on mindfulness, little is understood about the effects of visitor factors. Moreover, most previous studies of mindfulness have employed qualitative research methodologies. The present study relies on a survey of 390 local and international tourists to George Town, Penang (Malaysia) – a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) has been employed to analyse the data. The results demonstrate the significant effect of both communication factors and visitor factors on mindfulness. The findings of the study suggest that visitor mindfulness might be improved by incorporating questions, multisensory media, level of interest and visualisations in the design of the visitor experience at the heritage sites.

Visitor to Visitor Learning: Setting up Open-Ended Inquiry in an Unstaffed Space

ABSTRACTUsing the case study of an unstaffed, interactive making space at the Portland Museum of Art, this article explores the potential for museums to facilitate visitor to visitor learning without the in-person assistance of a gallery educator. It offers concrete steps to design activities, environments, and supporting resources which prompt close looking and deep engagement. It also highlights challenges and opportunities in defining and evaluating this type of open-ended and visitor-directed learning, which may look very different from other types of gallery teaching.

The Shaping of Knowledge: Communication of meaning through museum exhibition design

The primary objective of museum management in the shaping of knowledge can be achieved by a communication of meaning through quality displays of the permanent collection or temporary exhibitions, the specimens of a continent or the interactive apparatus of science. This paper looks at research derived primarily from museum scholars and experts with academics working in the field of visitor studies towards developing exhibits that facilitated visitor learning. These findings recast the approach in order to offer an integrated framework for visitor behaviour that has implications for service management of the service encounter at the museum in Malaysia.

Authenticity in an Uncertain World: Ensuring Accuracy in both the Explicit and Implicit Messages of Exhibits

Do you know what a kiwi looks like - all the way down to the orientation of the nostrils? While small details won’t make or break the aesthetics of an exhibit, they can have important impacts on visitor learning and future behavior. Museums are a traditional bastion of authenticity. From the objects we exhibit to the information we share, audiences know that museums are a trustworthy source of real objects and vetted facts. We strive to ensure accurate label copy, but the traditional constraints of preservation and exhibition of natural history specimens can still convey confusing or implicitly inaccurate information. Problems like sub-standard taxidermy, faded mounts, heedless application of plants, and inaccurate social groupings abound in museums. Visitors are usually not equipped to evaluate such details, yet such details often become a baseline from which visitor’s expectations of nature are derived. Therefore, accurate representations of species are an important way to convey both explicit institutional messages and implicit information about nature. We will discuss the fundamental details that differentiate award-winning taxidermy from substandard representations of the species. We will show how to employ a few, fundamental principles to overcome the constraints of preservation to make mounts, dioramas, and artificial reproductions as exciting, beautiful, and accurate as possible.

Creating Museum Exhibition: What the public want?

The purpose of this paper is the identification of issues from the perspective views of museum scholars and experts toward creating direction in developing museum exhibitions in Malaysia for public learning. Recently, museums have developed a strong interest in technology as their path more towards of leisure industries. However, there are contradicting opinions arising between using “traditional” approach and “interactive” technology exhibition techniques for visitor learning. This paper initiates a search for such literature and identifies key concepts for further deliberations. Finally, these findings are intended to formulate the best-practice on learning “tool” in a museum exhibition practice.Keywords: Museum; museum learning and museum exhibition. eISSN 2398-4295 © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. http://dx.doi.org/10.21834/ajbes.v3i11.98

Disability resources in higher education, part 4: Digital accessibility

Digital accessibility represents one of the biggest challenges in higher education, if not the biggest. Digital accessibility is defined by Whatis.com as “the ability of a website, mobile application, or electronic document to be easily navigated and understood by a wide range of users, including those users who have visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive disabilities.” Most operations and instruction that occur in higher education depend on digital communication systems (i.e., campus portals, learning management systems, email, etc.). The ubiquity of technology on campuses is a boon and at times a burden. The lack of accessibility within digital systems creates barriers to learning and participation for students, faculty, staff, and campus visitors.

An Interactive Robotic Fish Exhibit for Designed Settings in Informal Science Learning

Informal science learning aims to improve public understanding of STEM. Free-choice learners can be engaged in a wide range of experiences, ranging from watching entertaining educational videos to actively participating in hands-on projects. Efforts in informal science learning are often gauged by their ability to elicit interaction, to foster learning, and to influence perceptions of STEM fields. This paper presents the installation of a biomimetic robotic fish controlled by an iDevice application at an informal science learning exhibit. Visitors to the exhibit are offered a unique experience that spans engineering and science, in which they can steer the robotic fish, choosing from three modes of control. Visitor engagement is examined through the lens of the Selinda model of visitor learning, while their behavior is examined using an adapted model of Borun’s framework for behaviors indicative of learning. The evaluation of the efficacy of the exhibit is assessed through a post-experience survey questionnaire, an analysis of the application usage, and a behavior coding study. Data collected on visitor interactions with the exhibit indicate that free-choice learners value the importance of engineering research, and prefer interactive modes. Further, behavior coding results support the ability of the robotic fish platform to capture the visitors’ attention. Findings offer compelling evidence that the exhibit is both highly engaging to visitors and a suitable format for science inquiry.

Equity of Access to Cultural Heritage: Museum Experience as a Facilitator of Learning and Socialization in Children with Autism

AbstractThis article discusses a study focused on investigating the effects of an art museum cultural experience on learning and behaviors of visitors with special needs. The participants, selected by specific inclusion and exclusion criteria, were 10 families with children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The author examined how the museum environment, with its opportunities for free‐choice, object‐based, and inquiry‐based learning, helped facilitate their educational and social needs. To record changes in the subjects' content knowledge and behavior, the author employed a mixed‐methods design, including the standardized Social Responsiveness Scale, parent surveys, behavioral observations, task evaluations, and parent interviews. The findings demonstrate that participation in a tailored educational museum program positively influences cognitive and social behaviors of children living with autism, thereby contributing to their overall well‐being. The paper also discusses implications for other museums nationwide working to establish quality access programs with long‐term benefits for special needs communities.

A Design-Based Research Study of Staff-Facilitated Family Learning at Interactive Math Exhibits

ABSTRACTStaff facilitators in museums and science centers are a critical but often overlooked component of the visitor experience. Despite assertions about the important role they play in visitor learning, there continues to be almost no research to understand staff facilitation in these settings or identify effective practices. To address these gaps, we conducted a design-based research study to describe the work of experienced museum educators and iteratively refine a model of staff facilitation to support family learning at interactive math exhibits developed through a prior project. The resulting facilitation model identifies three visitor experience goals, outlines the cycle of responsive facilitation (observe, support, reflect) that educators used to support these goals, and highlights the physical, personal, and sociocultural factors that appeared to influence the nature and outcomes of the interactions. The model provides empirical support to guide professional development for museum educators and suggests future directions for visitor studies research.

A turtle cognition research demonstration enhances visitor engagement and keeper-animal relationships.

Environmental enrichment techniques present animals with cognitive challenges while providing them opportunities to make choices and exert control over their environment. In this way, cognitive research and training is enriching to animals and can be used as a form of enrichment in zoos and aquariums. Cognitive research demonstrations also provide an opportunity to enhance visitor experience, as well as foster interactions between animals and keepers. We investigated how cognitive research sessions involving eastern box turtles (Terrapene carolina carolina) at Disney's Animal Kingdom® impacted both the rate of visitors coming to the exhibit and the amount of time they spent engaged. Further, we used a questionnaire to assess the impact of keeper participation in these sessions on their relationships with and perceptions of the turtles. While visitation rate to the exhibit was not impacted, cognitive research sessions held visitor attention for longer than keeper interpretation or at times during which no keepers or researchers were present. We also found that keepers that had worked with the turtles for longer and keepers that regularly participated in cognitive research sessions reported stronger bonds with the turtles. Our research suggests that use of cognitive research and training demonstrations for guest viewing in zoos and aquariums may enhance visitor learning opportunities by increasing the amount of time they spend at the exhibit. Our study also provides evidence that participation in such demonstrations by zoo and aquarium professionals can be related to improved keeper-animal bonds, potentially resulting in better husbandry and enhanced animal welfare.

Mobile Augmented Reality in Museums : Towards Enhancing Visitor's Learning Experience

This article presents the design and implementation of a handheld Augmented Reality (AR) system called Mobile Augmented Reality Touring System (M.A.R.T.S). The results of experiments conducted during museum visits using this system are also described. These experiments aim at studying how such a tool can transform the visitor's learning experience by comparing it to two widely used museum systems. First, we present the museum's learning experience and a related model which emerged from the state of the art. This model consists of two types of activity experienced by the observer of a work of art: sensitive and analytical. Then, we detail M.A.R.T.S architecture and implementation. Our empirical study highlights the fact that AR can direct visitors' attention by emphasizing and superimposing. Its magnifying and sensitive effects are well perceived and appreciated by visitors. The obtained results reveal that M.A.R.T.S contributes to a worthwhile learning experience.

Enhancing art gallery visitors’ learning experience using wearable augmented reality: generic learning outcomes perspective

The potential of Information and Communication Technology-enhanced visitor learning experience is increasing with the advancement of new and emerging technologies in art gallery settings. However, studies on the visitor learning experience using wearable devices, and in particular, those investigating the effects of wearable augmented reality on the learning experience within cultural heritage tourism attractions are limited. Using the generic learning outcomes framework, this study aims to assess how the wearable augmented reality application enhances visitor’s learning experiences. Forty-four volunteers who were visiting an art gallery were divided into two groups, an experimental group and a control group. Following their visit to the gallery, the volunteers, who had and had not used wearable computing equipment, were interviewed, and the data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings revealed that the wearable augmented reality application helps visitors to see connections between paintings and personalize their learning experience. However, there are some drawbacks such as lack of visitor–visitor engagement and the social acceptability.

The effect of the zoo setting on the behavioural diversity of captive gentoo penguins and the implications for their educational potential

Investigations into the effect of the captive environment on zoo and aquarium-housed animals is now a well-established area of research, yet little attention is given to the effect of these animals on zoo visitors. It has been suggested that some animals have a greater ability to attract and thus educate visitors, but there is a dearth of information in this area. Furthermore, before a captive species’ educational potential can be determined, its response to the zoo environment should be investigated to ensure its welfare. The current study first considered the effect of visitor presence and environmental enrichment on the behavioural diversity levels of aquarium-housed gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua), with particular attention given to pool-use and nesting behaviour. Then, based on the animals’ response to the visitors and enrichment, we consider the educational potential of the penguin group. Data were obtained through scan samples taken throughout the breeding season. Results indicate that visitor number affects behavioural diversity levels, with higher numbers of visitors associated with greater behavioural diversity and pool use by penguins. However, neither visitor behaviour nor enrichment appeared to affect behavioural diversity. Nesting behaviour was not affected by any of the variables that were tested. Based on these results we conclude that the penguins at this aquarium have a high educational potential. The results of this study suggest that future research should consider the use of interactive enrichment and how captive penguins may further enhance visitor learning.

Visualizing biological data in museums: Visitor learning with an interactive tree of life exhibit

AbstractIn this study, we investigate museum visitor learning and engagement at an interactive visualization of an evolutionary tree of life consisting of over 70,000 species. The study was conducted at two natural history museums where visitors collaboratively explored the tree of life using direct touch gestures on a multi‐touch tabletop display. In the study, 247 youth, aged 8–15 years, were randomly assigned in pairs to one of four conditions. In two of the conditions, pairs of youth interacted with different versions of the tree of life tabletop exhibit for a fixed duration of 10 minutes. In a third condition, pairs watched a 10 minute video on a similar topic. Individual responses on a 53‐item exit interview were then compared to responses from a fourth, baseline condition. Contrasting with the baseline condition, visitors who interacted with the tabletop exhibits were significantly more likely to reason correctly about core evolutionary concepts, particularly common descent and shared ancestry. They were also more likely to correctly interpret phylogenetic tree diagrams. To investigate the factors influencing these learning outcomes, we used linear mixed models to analyze measures of dyads’ verbal engagement and physical interaction with the exhibit. These models indicated that, while our verbal and physical measures were related, they accounted for significant portions of the variance on their own, independent of youth age, prior knowledge, and parental background. Our results provide evidence that multi‐touch interactive exhibits that enable visitors to explore large scientific datasets can provide engaging and effective learning opportunities. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 53: 895–918, 2016

Does more education mean less fun? A comparison of two animal presentations

Animal presentations have the potential to reach zoo and aquarium visitors with powerful conservation messages that inspire environmentally responsible behaviour. However, there is limited information available on the style of presentation that would be most effective in achieving the greatest impact. This research study was designed to investigate the impact of two differently designed dolphin presentations on conservation‐learning outcomes and overall enjoyment of visitors. The results showed that increasing the educational content of the presentation enhanced visitor learning considerably, without detracting from their enjoyment of the presentation. The research provides evidence for the value of animal presentations in the conservation‐education programmes of zoos and aquariums, and provides suggestions of how to increase the impact of such presentations.