VX-Designers’ objective is to create a methodology to make the most of exhibitions a pedagogical tool to develop students’ skills in an inclusive way (specific learning disorders, cultural differences) and provide teachers and students with the tools to create their own virtual exhibition for learning.
Across Europe, exhibitions are used as a common educational practice to enhance learners’ critical thinking, problem-solving, and reflection. Although visiting exhibitions have positive learning value in a diversity of structures (outdoor, museums, temporary exhibitions, etc.) or settings and on a large variety of topics (art, history, sciences, etc.), it is by definition a learning process that remains fairly passive as the experience is based on following a path of discovery decided by somebody else, the museum curator. This passive aspect is not optimum as a learning process and creates major differences in the reception and the integration of the learning: some students, often the most successful or the ones with the highest cultural capital, might engage while it is very frequent to lose many others that do not connect themselves with the exhibition. With the evolution of knowledge and the population, it is obvious that it is essential to provide young people with more meaningful experiences and learning.
That is why we are convinced that it is possible and useful to make the exhibition an active experience. At the same time, we wish to benefit from technological means such as the multiplication of terminals and publication of classical artwork online, to allow learners to be the designers of their exhibition using digital tools in a meaningful and innovative non-formal approach to learning. Therefore, the project’s goal is to put the learners truly at the centre of the exhibition development process to maximize their learning and interest through a project-based learning activity: co-curating an exhibition. Developing and (co)creating an exhibition is a comprehensive process that adds value to young peoples’ learning and personal growth. It offers real opportunities to acquire and use knowledge to generate ideas and present things uniquely.
Our target is learners who would benefit from learning through the exhibition design and curation experience, and teachers/trainers, whose skills we wish to support and strengthen in order to facilitate this innovative approach to the teaching and learning process. Project partners decided to focus on secondary education students and teachers and positively impact this project’s activities and results on young people’s skills and key competencies needed on the XXIst century market, such as searching for creative solutions, planning and analysing, problem-solving and digital skills.
In practice, we intend to reach these results by developing tools that will support teachers in implementing an innovative pedagogy with the use of exhibitions and provide them with guidance and training material to help them create exhibitions to facilitate their student’s learning needs. Also, the project has the ambition to equip the 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.
To do so, VX Designers project will produce the following outputs:
1) Exhibition and school guide
2) Exhibition generator Platform
3) User guide for virtual exhibitions creation
4) Pedagogical guide
5) The exhibitions design and their pedagogical sequences
All the outputs will be developed, tested, and adapted during the project. As all outcomes will target teachers and learners, they will be translated from English into the partnership’s 4 languages (French, Polish, Greek, and Spanish). Specialists will also verify them to ensure that they are as inclusive as possible for learners with specific learning disorders and will be tested in diverse environments and with different social, economic and cultural backgrounds to ensure cultural accessibility and inclusiveness. The project has three pedagogical results on its completion and after:
1) Creation of educative (virtual) exhibitions with supporting resources, content, and pedagogical guidance, in a clear inclusive approach to allow equal participation for learners with specific learning disorders.
2) Supporting the development of teachers’ digital and non-formal education skills.
3) Supporting students’ creative, research, and organisation skills thanks to digital exhibition creation workshops during the field-testing phase.
Target Groups:
European learners in general, secondary school learners in particular.
Teachers in secondary education.
Partnership: SCS LogoPsyCom (BE), Les Apprimeurs (FR), C.I.P. CITIZENS IN POWER (CY), Fundacja ARTeria (PL), ASSOCIACIO PER A LA CREACIO I ESTUDIS DE PROJECTES SOCIALS C.E.P.S. (SP), Education & Learning Institute (GR)
Facebook page: To be announced soon
Website: www.vxdesigners.eu
Duration: October 1st, 2020 – September 30th, 2022 (24 months)
Project Number: 2020-1-BE01-KA201-074989
The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
