Educational systems around the world use exhibitions as a common educational practice to help learners achieve specific learning outcomes and develop critical thinking, reflection, problem-solving, communication, organisation and teamwork skills.
Exhibitions can be used within a diversity of structures and settings (outdoors, museums, temporary exhibitions, etc), and on a large variety of topics (art, history, sciences, etc). Nonetheless, it is quite common that using exhibitions for learning is related to visiting exhibitions in those structures – i.e., school visits in museums or art and cultural centres. In this case, the learning process becomes fairly passive, as the experience is based on following a path of discovery decided by somebody else: the museum curator.
With the evolution of knowledge and of the population, it becomes obvious that it is essential to provide young people with more meaningful experiences and creative learning. Furthermore, new, innovative approaches to teaching and learning should follow the developments of technology and integrate them to facilitate learning and achieve better outcomes.
The ‘VX Designers’ Erasmus+ project, is developed around the idea of making the use of exhibition an active learning experience. At the same time, it benefits from the development of technological means such as the multiplication of terminals and the publication of classical artworks online to allow learners to be the designers of their own exhibition using digital tools.
The project aims at creating a set of tools to support teachers in implementing an innovative pedagogy with the use of exhibitions and provide them with guidance and training material to help them create such exhibitions to facilitate their students’ learning and needs. Also, VX designers has the ambition to equip teachers, educators and museum professionals with tools and knowledge that will allow them to invite the young members of their audience to the process of creating co-curated exhibitions while developing their technical and ICT skills and encouraging inclusive digital exhibitions creation for practical use tailored to their classrooms’ needs.
One essential aspect of the project is to create accessible content for learners with learning difficulties and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD), but also cultural differences. Especially since there are not many initiatives developed on the topic of virtual curation for learning for pupils with specific learning disorders, this project will be the first one to take all these limitations into consideration and propose adaptive and dys-friendly material. It will thus provide equal opportunities to all learners to access and actively use material from museum databases and resources to develop their knowledge and express their needs.
In practice, the VX Designers project will produce the following tools:
1) Exhibition and school guide
A booklet that contains information about the use of exhibitions in schools as an educational practice in Europe. The guide aims to establish why exhibitions are adding value to school education. It will include learning theories concerning the learning through exhibitions, the value of this process, the different types of exhibitions in education and some examples of exhibition creation practices across the EU.
2) Exhibition generator Platform
An online platform for creating virtual exhibitions. This will be the main platform of the project that will contain all the available outputs, information and resources of the project, but it will also allow learners to conduct research on museums’ open databases and to create their own virtual exhibitions. The platform will include 30 model exhibitions created in the project and adapted for “visitors” with dys as examples of good practice.
3) User guide for virtual exhibitions creation
A user guide with all the technical information on how to use the above-mentioned online platform and resources.
4) Pedagogical guide in 5 languages in a digital format
This guide aims at explaining how to use exhibition creation inside classroom settings including the co-creation methodology and practical examples and advice for teachers on exhibition creation and on the inclusion of learners with specific learning disorders.
5) The exhibitions design and their pedagogical sequences
A booklet in digital format that gathers students’ and teachers’ experience in using the project’s platform to generate exhibitions for project-based learning in school. The booklet will include exhibitions’ best practices and testimonials from the participants.
If VXDesigners speaks to you, give us a shout!
We are currently looking for teachers and professionals from the cultural world who would be willing to tell us about their experiences with museum visits, exhibitions and even scenography, done with children or for children.
You can contact us through mail : info@logopsycom.com or fill the form here and we will reach you in order to set up a digital meeting.
Project website: vxdesigners.eu
Follow the project on Facebook: @Logopsycom
#VXDesigners #erasmusplusproject
Our partners in this ambitious project are Les Apprimeurs (France), Citizens in Power (Cyprus), the European Education and Learning Institute (Greece), CEPS (Spain), Fundacja ARTeria (Poland)
Sources:
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