본고에서는 앞으로의 미술교육이 21세기형 학습역량을 함양시키는데 중추적인 역할을 하기 위한 방향으로서 '시각문화미술교육'을 주목하고, 이어서 현재 문화예술교육에 있어서 중요한 학습도구이자 학습환경으로서 급부상하고 있는 온라인상의 박물관, 곧, 가상박물관(virtual museum)의 교육적 가치를 분석하여, 이를 시각문화미술교육의 특성과 연계하한 통합적 접근의 접점을 찾아보고자 한다.
As the 21st century requires the radical and wholistic paradigm shift in terrns of curriculurn, pedagogy, and learning theories in every academic field, so the art education has come to the terrns with ‘ visual culture art education(VCAE)’ as a new approach, which represents postmodern theorizing, encompassing both popular and fine arts, emphasizing visual literacy to the ‘empowered’ learner for the critical interpretation and criticism on the meaning of images in terrns of their own cultural predispositions. This study, after analyzing and connecting VCAE with constructivist principles of instruction which are also regarded as embodying the postmodern educational approaches and values in education, analyzed the educational potentials of virtual museums(or galleries) for the purpose of seeking for the theoreticaI Iink with VCAE. For that purpose, several internationally reputed virtual galleries were examined within three representative features of digital archive, personalization, and online community in the virtual museum. Finally this paper pinponted the interconnected relationships of how the educational values of the virtual museum can be applied for the practice and theory of VCAE.