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