Hopes & Dreams for this Blog, Virtual Visits….and Beyond!
November 22, 2006
I am thinking big for my role as “Supervisor of Distance Learning programs”. My primary responsibility is to get our 21st century version of Virtual Visits launched, running, and self-sustaining. This is a quite a task and this blog will be the public face for these endeavors both as a way to publicize our programs and to chronicle the learning vision quest for both ourselves and our students.
But this blog is also an experimentation in the world of Read/Write slash web 2.0 slash social web tools slash killer apps that could take the mission/s of the New York Hall of Science beyond our brick & mortar boundaries and create learning spaces out here in the virtual frontier.
How can I use this space to help invent and invigorate our programs, to grow ideas and highlight the impact we can have on our audience? As my understandings develop about these exciting new technologies can be used and taught I hope to begin weaving them into our Virtual Visits to create a multi-platform learning experiences that sparks curiosity, continues engagement and inspires student work.
It is my belief that museums, science centers, zoos, cultural centers and other free choice educational spaces have a place augmenting our schools, especially when in so many of the schools the pressures and demands on the day are increasing. Why can’t the New York Hall of Science be in classrooms all over the country (or world) as a resource whether it be teaching via videoconferencing, moderating message boards, recording podcasts, publishing blogs or integrating of all these tools and concepts.
So as the Virtual Visits Team embarks on our mission and records our progress via this blog we hope to expand the possibilities of “Distance Learning” and make the NYHOS a relevant learning center to eager minds in Queens, or Indiana, or Alaska, or Australia, or Kenya…AND Beyond!
We are excited and we hope you out there will be as well!!
