Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning through Design

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• Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning
  through Design
• (CETLD)

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What is CETLD?

• CETLD is a unique partnership between two
  higher education institutions, a museum and a
  professional organisation.
• CETLD partners are
• University of Brighton
• Royal College of Art (RCA)
• Victoria and Albert Museum (VA)
• Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)

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Background

• Lack of targeted provision for HE students in
  museum
• Limited research into the needs of students in HE
  and specialist subject groups including design

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Museum Learning

• Museums have a public duty to make provision for
  all learners
• Museums have traditionally engaged in mass
  communication rather than modifying content for
  particular audiences
• Museums are free-choice learning environments -
  not obliged to follow any set syllabus

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Physical and Virtual Learning Spaces

• Process of learning involves an interaction
  between the learner and the object
• Importance of context
• Physical and virtual learning spaces

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iGuides from StreetAccess
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What are iGuides?

• Web-based museum trails which are accessed on
  handheld computers in the galleries

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What does the technology offer?

• User can access audio, video, text and images
• Can upload voice recordings, photos and text as
  they take the trail
• Can access this personalised trail on the web
  after the visit

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What can trails on PDAs do?
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Provide context
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Bring different resources together
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Provide scaffolding
What do you think?
Why?
Who?
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Provide a structure for students responses
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Change the museum environment
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How deep can museum learning be?

• Can we create resources that stimulate
  exploration and reflection rather than being an
  electronic textbook?
• Semper and Spasojevic (2002)

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Evaluation of the iGuides project

• Evaluation is an essential planning tool
• It takes a cyclical approach
• - Front-end
• - Formative
• - Summative
• Designed to support project milestones and
  pedagogic enquiry

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Preliminary Observations

• Students spend much longer looking at objects
  when using the trail
• Students appreciate extra information about the
  objects on display
• Students prefer conducting a trail outside their
  own subject area
• Students enjoy the capacity that the technology
  has to offer. They like to make notes, record
  audio and take photographs.
• It is difficult to gauge the content of
  information at the right level for undergraduate
  and postgraduate students

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• What about the needs of your students in the
  museum(s)?