The Educational and Economic Value of Online Learning for Museums

Distance Learning in Museums: A Review of the Literature

“…Three articles (Barshinger & Ray, 1998;Crow & Din, 2010;Harrell & Kotecki, 2015) and both books (Crow & Din, 2009, 2011 used constructivism as a theoretical framework to guide their study. In addition to constructivism, Crow and Din (2011) offered a range of alternative theories that might be considered when developing distance learning programs including media theory, cognitive theory, as well as situated and distributed cognition.…”

“…Video conferencing was described in 10 articles (Barshinger & Ray, 1998;Bell et al, 2016;Bradford & Rice, 1996;Coquillon & Staples, 2015, Crow & Din, 2010Engelke, 2015;Hilton et al, 2019;Mitchell et al, 2019;O'Leary, 2011;Sanger et al, 2015). Online courses were described in six articles (Din, 2015;Engelke, 2015;Harrell & Kotecki, 2015;Kraybill & Din, 2015;Mazzola, 2015;Sanger et al, 2015).…”

“…Distance learning programs increased a museum's outreach potential by breaking down geographic boundaries and allowing museums to reach visitors who might not otherwise have access (Gaylord-Opalewski & O'Leary, 2019). Crow and Din (2010) suggested that online learning offered new ways to connect and communicate with people who might not be familiar with the museum, increasing the possibility for future interactions on a much larger scale. While there has been concern that distance learning programs may decrease audiences' interest in physically visiting, several studies reported the opposite to be true (e.g., Hardee & Duffin, 2015;Hilton et al, 2019;Mitchell et al, 2019;O'Leary, 2011;Schmidt, 1997).…”

“…Implementing distance learning programs allowed museums to increase the types and amount of data they collect about their audiences (Crow & Din, 2009, 2010, 2011Din, 2015;Gaylord-Opalewski & O'Leary, 2019;Hilton et al, 2019). Distance learning programs offered museums opportunities to gather real-time data about their participants, allowing them to pilot new programs and gain instant feedback to continually improve their programs (Crow & Din, 2010). Education staff were also able to document and archive participants' feedback and responses (Crow & Din, 2010;Din, 2015).…”

“…Distance learning programs offered museums opportunities to gather real-time data about their participants, allowing them to pilot new programs and gain instant feedback to continually improve their programs (Crow & Din, 2010). Education staff were also able to document and archive participants' feedback and responses (Crow & Din, 2010;Din, 2015). Museums also used data for participatory development of programs by allowing participants to have a say in how programs evolved for greater buy-in (Crow & Din, 2009).…”