Building an Educational web-site

Virginia's Virtual Art Room (VAVA Room) was designed as a collaborative project of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University, and George Mason University as an on-line exhibition and curriculum guide of ancient Egyptian art and culture. The on-line exhibition is comprised of electronically scanned images from the permanent collections of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA and the Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum, Hildesheim, Germany. The Web-site simulates a classroom from which students and educators embark on a virtual "field trip" into the exhibition of ancient Egyptian art. In bringing together objects in an electronically reproduced format which would otherwise not be seen together in a physical environment, this Web-site extends access to the permanent and temporary collections of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts to classrooms throughout the county via the Internet. Audience development, access, and education are all key components as the exhibition is accompanied by a virtual "supply closet" of materials and techniques, "lessons,""maps,""vocabulary,""family room," and "teacher's lounge." Lesson plans written to reference the Commonwealth of Virginia Standards of Learning Objectives encourage the creation of original artwork in remote classrooms, adaptable to grade levels Kindergarten through High School.

This mini-workshop will present the Web-site as an educational tool from the collaborative efforts of those involved in its development to its application to the classroom.