"Surfin' The Louvre"

An article by Elizabeth Larsen, called “Surfin’ the Louvre”, presented a debate about whether or not you have to be in a museum to learn, or if you can have the same experience on the World Wide Web. The author describes her criteria includes virtual tours and many pictures of different exhibits around the world, from places like Italy to Japan. This kind of information readily available to students on the web seems like a great learning experience. However, this article made me evaluate whether I believe hands-on education can be replaced by a web site with virtual tours.

I think it is a great idea to have exhibits and artifacts from museums all over the world, put on one internet site. Students all over the world will then have these resources with a click of the mouse. It is a given that whenever students are doing research for a project, they cannot fly to Japan or some other foreign country to visit a museum with a certain exhibit they are doing research on. With a site like the one talked about in the writing, there will be many pictures and information about the exhibit, regardless how far away it is.

Even though I believe this website with multiple museums is a good idea and will be beneficiary in many school projects, I do not think it should replace the hand-on learning experience. Many students learn best by seeing and touching things in real life. By having all the information on the website, schools may believe it is okay to use the internet source to replace field trips to museums. There is only so much knowledge a person can gain from the internet. I still think it will be best if students have the opportunity to examine exhibits in real life, so they are able to get the feel of it and ask questions. In conclusion, I think this new form of learning can be used to improve access in museums around the world, but should not be the only tool in the research process.