The Real and the virtual: Online exhibitions,
Web 2.0 and design students
Jane Devine Mejia
20 March 2009
CETLD partners
CETLD goals
• Embed the use and understanding of archives and museum collections in the experience of design students
• Explore ways of using technologies to enhance learning and teaching
• Work with partners to share ideas, expertise and resources
• Contribute to pedagogic research
Relevant themes
• Learning spaces: physical and virtual
• Student voice and student-centred approach to learning
• Use and application of collections
Online Exhibition Project goals
• to design a sustainable online exhibition learning site;
• to find effective ways of engaging design students and tutors with archival material, particularly those in practice-based disciplines;
• to learn lessons about how students and tutors most effectively engage with archival materials in an online environment.
Online Exhibition Project elements
• A review of art/design, museum, library and archives literature about online exhibitions and virtual learning
• A review of best practice in online exhibition design
• Development of a prototype exhibition using existing digitised archival materials from CETLD partner archives
• Exploration of ways to engage students and tutors
• Providing an opportunity for “students as curators”
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco My Gallery
2 Willow Road: Ernö Goldfinger, architectA modernist house and its archive
Jalbum Fotoplayer
Student participation
Visiting, capturing, exploring archives, blogging, virtual exhibition, evaluation
Undergraduate 3D design students: a profile
• Predominantly female ( 70%+)• Ages 18-25 • Dyslexia is significant factor for 21-35%• Makers, not writers• Proficient in use of social networking
technology• No experience with archives
Observations
• Academic vs. social networks• Limited use of blogging• Online exhibition as a reminder of
the physical experience• Appreciation for real objects and
people• Influence on the work
Working with postgraduate students
Exploring curatorship in a virtual context
Learning from the online exhibition project