Review of interactive practices in online immigration museums

Whilst the use of digital interactive content can be used in physical exhibits within museums, little attention has been given to identify and develop interactive learning resources for online delivery of museum education. Previous research has demonstrated that interactivity is the key in engaging and educating museum visitors for both online museum websites and for physical exhibition. This study aims at categorizing and ranking the range of interactivity in terms of learner (user) interactions and of digital content with museum distant-learning systems, with a formal education context. The link to education presented as museum education generally uses the same structure as formal education. The research analyzed 38 digital learning units on 11 immigration-oriented museums websites through defined categorizations. The findings show that a digital learning unit can use more than one types of content or user-centered interactivity, while the passive interactivity is the dominant one. This review also shows that different types of digital content could provide various types of interactions for learners. Finally, the results could help form a toolbox for the communities to use and build online interactive learning units for museum education.