Paintings on the walls of Paleolithic caves in southwest France vividly illustrate how early man survived. Modern man is not allowed to visit this historical site physically, but can study the cave drawings of his hunter-gatherer ancestors virtually, via the Internet.
This is an example of the power of virtual museums, said Jamieson McKenzie, director of technology and media for the Bellingham (Wash.) school district. Virtual museums, he explained, are collections of electronic artifacts—from drawings and photographs to audio recordings and video segments—that are displayed, along with some form of written explanation, on a World Wide Web page. As schools become more sophisticated in their use of the Internet, McKenzie added, more students will become curators of such electronic exhibits.
"Our goal is to think of students as people who are engaged in thinking, researching, and inventing meaning around objects and historical evidence," said McKenzie, who showed how student-designed virtual museums in his district allowed students to investigate aspects of local history. Student curators of Ellis Island, for example, explored immigration through their own personal histories, digitizing photographs of family members from their native countries and writing accompanying biographies.
"Think of how different this is from the textbook approach to studying local history," McKenzie stated, adding that, while there is "nothing new" about studying local history, what is new is the opportunity for students to share their work with a global audience. "It's a publishing experience and they have an authentic audience," he explained. "No longer is it just submitting a paper to the teacher that no one else reads except maybe the parents." In creating virtual museums, he said, people from around the world have access to students' work.
Although virtual museums are still a new presence on the Web, McKenzie does offer field-tested suggestions for educators interested in helping their students create electronic exhibits.
First, take time to preselect sites for student research. This, McKenzie said, gives students "guided use" of the Internet. Because much of the information on the Web is still poorly organized, students who try to find information on their own "waste about 95 percent of their time," he explained.
Second, "be minimalist" in the design approach, McKenzie suggested. One simple structure, similar to the Ellis Island exhibit, would include an area for artifacts from the local community and student writings, an area for submitted artifacts and writings, and an area that features pointers to other resources on the Web. Additionally, menu pages should be free of graphics (which take a lot of time to load) so visitors can quickly access the areas they want to visit.
Third, remember that any material on the Internet is published material and should be considered copyrighted, not to be used without explicit permission; don't allow others to use student work without first securing authorization. "We don't publish any student work without written permission from both the child and the parent," McKenzie said. People who want to use that work will be directed to contact the students and their families for permission. "We like to teach the kids that their work is intellectual property and that it is of value."
McKenzie also recommended that teachers put a disclaimer on their Web pages, indicating that the opinions expressed do not reflect the school district's positions. "If your school district has a Web site, there are enormous liability issues," McKenzie explained.
In sharing his knowledge of virtual museums, McKenzie hoped audience members would be inspired to use the Internet and their community resources to create their own museum sites on the Web. "When our kids study your region [of the country]," McKenzie explained, "they can visit your virtual museum and find local and historical information that will be a lot more interesting to them than anything they can read in a textbook."