Virtual museums

Virtual worlds aren’t just for playing, they also open a gate to other didactic uses as virtual museums.

I love going to all sort of museums, but taking your students with you is another thing as finding time, organizing the trip and preparing the goals can be resource consuming.

The alternative is to attend a virtual museum while in classroom. The existing ones offer different options:

1. Picture galleries: they just show a bunch of pictures of their expositions.
2. Virtual reality exposition rooms: you can walk inside a 3D world interacting with the elements.
3. A mixed approach of the previous ones.

To better understand what this is about have a look at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Get inside, have a walk and realize the possibilities of this resource. Other options aren’t so impressive but they’re indeed equally valuable as the Louvre Museum.

Some ideas to work with:

1. Just a lovely walk inside the museum.
2. A webquest: combine it with flow control tools, as Moodle.
3. A cultural trip to solve some exercises or complete a presentation.