UPDATE 8 - SAVE THE DATE !

Disseminating Event, November 19-20, 2024 /Jardin des sciences – University of Strasbourg /

As coordinator, the Jardin des sciences is organizing an event in November to promote the "Teaching with objects" project's results, aimed at European professionals (teaching, conservation, education) and students from all disciplines interested in the subject. The event will provide an opportunity to disseminate the report resulting from the first Europe-wide research project on the subject. It will also provide an opportunity to present the online platform, with a view to encouraging further contributions. Last but not least, it will be an opportunity to test and evaluate different practices in practical workshops.

PRE-PROGRAM

DAY 1 (9:00 > 12:30)                 

• Welcome and registration of participants

• Presentation of the project: origin of the project, current status of OBTL, presentation of the report

• Presentation of the platform : architecture, contents types, guide-lines

/ Coffee break /

• Round table - Presentation of contents by the contributors themselves and testimonials on the publication process, questions and answers

/ Lunch /

DAY 1 (14:00 > 18:00 + Planetarium show & Cocktail reception)

• Workshop

> Part 1: “demonstration” of practice by practitioners with mixed groups of participants: students, curators, teachers, didacticians, etc.

> Part 2: Recomposition of groups by profile (students, curators, teachers, didacticians) / Preparation of a restitution.

/ Coffee break / 

• Round table - Feedback on the workshop through the eyes of the different profiles

/ Planetarium show & Cocktail reception /

DAY 2 (9:00 > 12:30)                 

• Presentations of specific OBTL approaches / Questions and answers

(3 guest practitioners - program in progress)

/ Coffee break /

• Round table - “Evaluating OBTL” : observation and analysis of OBTL practices by didacticians during days 1 and 2, suggestion of relevant evaluation modalities for OBTL, discussion with the audience.

• Wrap-up and open discussion with the audience: platform perspectives, invitation to contribute, audience feedback.

• Closing of the event and thanks

/ Lunch (lunch bag) /

DAY 2 (13:45 > 15:00)   

• Cultural visits - program in progress (registration required, subject to availability)

Read up about the disseminating event >>>

UPDATE 7
"Object-Based Teaching and Learning Today", pre-conference workshop, ICOM-UMAC & Universeum Conference - Dresden, September 24, 2024 /

Object-Based Teaching and Learning (OBTL) is of key significance for all university museums and collections worldwide. Closely intertwined with the core mission of these institutions, OBTL’s importance has increasingly been acknowledged in recent years: In 2023, The Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney, won the UMAC award for its groundbreaking work in this field. At the same time, OBTL’s methods, strategies, and practices have come more sharply into the focus of didactic and scientific inquiry. In early 2022, the UNIVERSEUM network launched an ERASMUS+-project to address central aspects of the topic. Ever since, “Teaching with Objects” has been studying the application of OBTL in relation to academic heritage, with the goal to develop a practice-oriented digital community resource.

For this workshop, the project’s scientific staff invites practitioners, researchers, and curators who use objects in their teaching to share their approaches in short presentations (approx. 5–10 mins) and discuss results. Thus, the workshop aims to reflect on the current state of Object-Based Teaching and Learning and to investigate its role both for higher education generally and for those working in and with academic heritage and university museums and collections.

The workshop includes presentations by:
- S. Grytter (University of Copenhagen, Medical Museion, Copenhagen, Denmark)
- E. Avgeri (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Department of Primary  Education, Athens, Greece)
- D. Issenmann (Université de Strasbourg, Jardin des sciences)
- J. LoboGuerrero-Arenas (University of Cambridge, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge, United Kingdom)
- S. Talas (Università di Padova, Museum of the History of Physics)

Read up about this workshop >>>

UPDATE 6
GUM student workshop, November 9, 2023 /

Object-based teaching and learning (OBTL) is a student-centered approach. For instance, in OBTL, students and educators are encouraged to work together as partners and co-producers of knowledge (Lelkes, 2019). In this process, students rely on their own knowledge and experiences. These are elements which are considered key in making OBTL a more inclusive pedagogical approach. 

However, in practice, this potential is not always realized as  (1) students’ voices and experiences are often overlooked, and (2)  educators and curators struggle when it comes to making their practices more inclusive. To take a first step towards bridging these gaps, Things That Talk (TTT) in collaboration with the Ghent University Museum (GUM) organized a workshop for the museum student team (MuST) on November 9th, 2023.

Read up about this workshop >>>

UPDATE 5
Universeum Conference, July 6, 2023 /

At the 2023 Universeum conference, the Working Group Digital Initiatives organized another workshop about object-based teaching and learning (OBTL), as part of the Erasmus+ project “Teaching With Objects”. 

Divided into four groups, participants first created four personas representing one of the key actors involved in teaching with objects, namely: a teacher, a curator, a student, and a head of department. The four characters created were presented to the other participants, who had the opportunity to write down questions they wanted to ask these personas about their practices, potential challenges, and so on. The workshop ended with a roleplay session during which each persona presented their answer to some of these questions, followed by discussions. 

Read up about this workshop >>>

UPDATE 4
Stichting Academisch Erfgoed - Things That Talk workshop, January 26, 2023 /

Situated in The Netherlands, Stichting Academisch Erfgoed (SAE) is the leading network organization that brings together the institutions and the professionals that engage with academic heritage (e.g. museums, universities, academic libraries). On 26 January, together with Stichting Things That Talk (TTT), SAE organized a workshop revolving around teaching with objects; a win win: Things That Talk brought objects to advance the thinking about interdisciplinary pedagogy in the teaching with objects, also giving us direct and indirect feedback on our Erasmus+ project.

Read up about this workshop >>>

UPDATE 3
Ghent workshop on evolution, December 12, 2022 /

All individual members taken together, our project team has decades of experience in teaching with objects. Naturally, our team tries to seize the opportunities to attend each other's lessons. On 12 December Things That Talk (TTT) and Stichting Academisch Erfgoed  (SAE) had the chance to partake in a teaching workshop by our project partner Dominick VERSCHELDE at the GUM (Ghent University Museum). Not as observers, but as actual students. Topic of the morning was 'evolution'.

Read about what we've learnt >>>

UPDATE 2
Leiden project meeting, Teaching with objects July 4 and 5, 2022 /

On 5.12.2022 and 6.12.2022, the project team of Teaching with Objects gathered in Leiden for two full days of brainstorming. Goal was to (1) share the first outcomes of our research, interviews with teachers and lesson observations (presentation); and (2) to build on that knowledge, and, more specifically, place ourselves in the position of those individuals and groups that - both directly and indirectly - could benefit from our work and our 'product'.

Read about what we've learnt >>>