Virtual Museum Tours for Schools: Teachers’ Experiences and Expectations

Students have always been main targets for museums with clear learning strategies between schools and museums that contribute to a reinforced student learning experience. Although several museums offer virtual experiences (also available for schools), these cannot be easily manipulated or combined with other resources to form curriculum-focused learning activities. This study aims to explore the views and expectations of teachers on the use of Virtual Museum Tours (VMT) in their classrooms. Main findings from an online survey with 101 teachers (with or without VMT experience) shed light on their motivations and challenges when engaging their classrooms in such activities. Statistical analysis and visualisations were used to present teachers’ experiences and expectations, and a binary logistic regression analysis was employed to indicate the factors that associate with teachers’ decision to join VMTs in their classrooms. This study’s observations have implications for the design of customisable VMTs for schools, for how museums develop VMTs that facilitate school participation, and how game designers develop virtual gaming apps used in formal education settings.