4 minute read
Education
Digital days
Online education during lockdown
The last two years have brought incredible change to museums across the globe. Most have been closed for extended periods of time, with significant changes to planned events, reduced visitor numbers and most staff working from home. Our museum, like many others, has been looking for new ways to overcome these obstacles and engage with our various audiences, writes Digital Education Project Officer Megan Baehnisch.
Cook’s Voyages, the second of the museum’s online educational games, highlights a First Nations perspective on Cook’s journey. ANMM image Gamified learning experiences have the power to capture students’ attention for extended periods of time as they learn about history
THE MUSEUM’S CLOSURE during lockdown has been a particularly challenging time for the Education team, as our mission to engage, educate and inspire students has been complicated by the reduced opportunities to welcome school groups onto the museum site. While nothing could totally replace the immersive experience of stepping on board the Endeavour replica, or looking closely at objects from our maritime past, we continue to engage students with our digital resources and programs. These have proven to be increasingly valuable as teachers look for content online. There is renewed interest in past projects, like the Virtual Endeavour tour, and the future will also see the team working on exciting and innovative products in the digital space. Digital activities have quickly become a part of everyday learning, with teachers and students looking for new content while gaining confidence using online tools and programs. Perfect examples are our Virtual Excursion programs, where a museum educator engages students with museum stories and objects using video-conferencing technology. The museum has offered programs covering a variety of topics since 2013 and this recent increase in confidence has removed a substantial barrier for teachers, as they have a better understanding of the technology and are more willing to engage with virtual programs.
01 Education Officer Megan Baehnisch presents an online program. ANMM image 02 Characters such as Grognose Johnny, played by museum educator John Lamzies, enliven online educational presentations. Image Andrew Frolows/ANMM
01
02
The second half of 2021 provided us with unique challenges and opportunities, as many students across New South Wales and Victoria were forced into learning from home. In term three we saw unprecedented demand for our programs and we quickly adapted our delivery, allowing us to present them while we were away from the museum and to best cater for students who were also learning from home. We connected with hundreds of students for our popular history topics ‘Cook and Banks: Charting the Great Southern Land’ and ‘Through the Waves of Migration’, while our National Science Week webinars focused on ocean sciences, celebrating the amazing work the museum is doing as part of the United Nations Decade for Ocean Science and Sustainable Development. Feedback from teachers has confirmed that our presentations are engaging and interactive despite being online, and they have told us that participating in virtual excursions has helped re-motivate and engage students during the extended period of learning from home. Online programs have always been a priority for our team as they allow us to reach students right across the country and even beyond our borders, such as our successful project delivering programs to students in the Republic of South Korea (see Signals 135, June 2021). We also continue to trial new presentation styles for greater engagement and recently ran a successful pilot of trivia quizzes as a way to help students learn in a fun, appealing environment. This demonstrates our commitment to not just duplicate onsite programs, but to utilise new digital tools and programs to increase our online audience.
In addition to virtual excursions, video content and online resources, the museum has long been a leader in trying new ways to engage with our students online, such as immersive gamified learning experiences. Our educational games are going from strength to strength, with the launch of Wreck Seeker in July, and Cook’s Voyages – The view from the shore winning a 2021 Museums & Galleries National Award for Interpretation, Learning & Audience Engagement. Whether students are taking on the role of a modern maritime archaeologist or a surgeon superintendent aboard a convict vessel in 1830, these platforms have the power to capture their attention for extended periods of time as they learn about history. Cook’s Voyages also highlights a First Nations perspective of Cook’s journey, which is increasingly relevant to all Australians. These experiences continue to engage hundreds of thousands of players each year and allow us to spread stories of our maritime history. As the education team heads into 2022, we are keen to welcome students back on site to participate in innovative and engaging programs that showcase our amazing collection and stories. At the same time, we can continue to expand our use of digital technologies to grow our online outreach, benefiting from teachers’ increased familiarity with digital technologies to reach students across Australia and the world. This dual focus will be a key element in our education strategy, and we look forward to fully exploring all the exciting opportunities now available to us thanks to digital technologies.
