Innovative Virtual Museum Conceptual Model for Learning Enhancement During The Pandemic

This paper presents the evaluation results of a new conceptual model of a virtual museum for enhancing museum learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a pandemic, people cannot carry out learning activities in museums because of museum closure. An innovative virtual museum is needed for presenting information quickly which is interesting, interactive, and relevant to the user's requirement, especially for museum learning which is identical to old fashion collections and is less attractive, especially for millennials. Some museums in the world have shifted the educational role of physical museums to virtual or digital museums. However, it is more than a recreational purpose while the educational role has not been optimized. The new conceptual model proposed in this study integrates learning outcome indicators and machine learning into the development of virtual museum content to produce attractive virtual museums and be able to analyze and assess user knowledge abilities for improving museum learning purposes. The evaluation carried out on testing the hypothesis related to the impact of the proposed virtual museum model development on the performance of museum learning during the pandemic was conducted using the Partial Least Square Structured Equation Model (PLS-SEM) method. The virtual museum usage affects museum learning performance with a significance level of R2 > 0.5, and the model fit level is good where VIF < 3. These findings become strong baselines for museums organization to consider developing digital media of innovative virtual museums for learning enhancement during the COVID-19 pandemic. The innovative conceptual model is expected to be developed into an innovative virtual museum application that will enhance museum learning without having to access physical museums and optimize museum educational role, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia.