Case Studies Remote learning in museums, heritage and cultural settings - Vol.26 2020 - Group for Education in Museums
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Case Studies Remote learning in museums, heritage and cultural settings Vol.26 2020
About Editorial
through digital activities and physical
packs, while university museums in
Oxford and Cambridge highlight best
practice in using culture to support
GEM? By Devon Turner, adults and young people experiencing
Case Studies Editor ill-mental health, and adults in drugs
Communications Manager, GEM and alcohol rehabilitation and young
people with SEN/SEND.
Digital has become essential to the
GEM champions excellence in learning Welcome to our remote learning
museums and heritage sector in recent
within museums, heritage and cultural themed edition of GEM Case Studies.
years, however this year digital has
settings. As a professional membership There are a myriad of projects and
come to the absolute forefront.
organisation, GEM members connect activities highlighted that are sure to
Organisations like Historic Environment
and learn together through training inform and inspire. Thank you to the
Scotland, Leeds Museums and
courses, continuing professional Art Fund for supporting this edition.
Galleries, Egypt Centre at Swansea
development, networking opportunities The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic
University, National Videogame
and publications like GEM Case has encouraged the sector to pivot
Museum, Fitzwilliam Museum and
Studies and the Journal for Education and provide increased opportunities
Horniman Museum stepped up to
in Museums. for remote learning both digitally,
the digital plate to use materials on
through delivering resources like
Our VISION is of a connected and hand to create engaging videos to
webinars, videos and podcasts,
equipped community of people inspire creativity and keep children,
and physically through posting out
enabling learning across museum, families and community active through
packs and providing engagement
heritage and cultural settings, creating cultural engagement.
resources through libraries, schools
inspiring experiences, relevant for and food banks. Museums like the Jewish Museum
everyone; that promote equality – London who had their successful
transform and enrich lives. The lockdowns of 2020 have left many
remote learning programme already
people isolated and susceptible to
Our MISSION is to support and in place, used the first 2020 lockdown
anxiety, depression and other mental
empower our community of colleagues to debut their new virtual classrooms
health issues. Creativity and culture
to connect and develop their programme to great success. Other
have provided a lifeline to so many, and
knowledge and skills to deliver learning. organisations like The Laing Art Gallery,
are particularly important for the most
part of Tyne & Wear Archives &
Our SERVICES to deliver our mission vulnerable among us including older
Museums and Archaeology Scotland
include; professional membership for generations, dementia patients and
used lockdown as an opportunity to
everyone delivering learning across children and adults with SEN/SEND.
expand pre-existing programmes like
museums, heritage and cultural The tireless work of museum and
Arts Award and Heritage Hero Awards
settings; training and professional heritage education professionals to
online to reach out to new audiences.
development opportunities; 1-1 respond and reimagine what cultural
support; annual conference and events; engagement looks like during a We conclude this edition of GEM Case
dedicated representatives across all pandemic continues to inspire and Studies by hearing from organisations
four Nations of the UK; publications inform definitions of remote learning, like Bath and North East Somerset
and digital resources, support for as we navigate this new and socially (BANES) Heritage Services and The
sector recruitment; conversations distant terrain. Queer Heritage Forum who have
and advocacy about practice and the turned challenges into successes by
Remote learning is a broad term that
development of learning. working out alternative ways to host
has taken on a number of meanings
remote work placements – finding new
within different contexts. When the
ways to celebrate Pride month and
teacher and learner are separated by
highlight LGBTQ communities through
time or distance, it’s understood to
digital engagement.
be remote learning. However, this
experience can manifest itself in very We hope you enjoy learning from these
different ways as is evidenced within case studies. At GEM, we connect and
the pages of this GEM Case Studies. learn together. Let’s continue to remain
The Museum of London brilliantly strong as a sector and advocate for
demonstrates how to engage dementia the universal power of learning within
patients with their community remotely museums, heritage and cultural settings.
02
02 GEM Case Studies Vol. 26 2020
GEM Case
Contents
02 Editorial 18 Look Think Do: creating
08 Devon Turner accessible and relevant
content for schools and
04 Memories of London: families during lockdown
Lockdown Lessons Kate Noble, Rosanna Evans
Amy Eastwood and Holly Morrison
Museum of London Fitzwilliam Museum, University
of Cambridge
06 Out of Touch? Flexible
Connections with 20 Getting ‘Hands on’ with Digital
Community Partners Lucy Maycock
Susan Griffiths, Beth McDougall, Horniman Museum
Nicola Bird and Thandi Wilson
10 University of Oxford Museums 22 Virtual Classrooms:
Facilitated Teaching to Schools
08 Engaging children and young Frances Jeens
people with SEND virtually Jewish Museum London
through lockdown
Marie Kennedy 24 Home Education and Arts
University of Cambridge Museums Award: Remote Learning
and Progression
10 Learn at Home: Digital Morgan Fail
resources for lockdown learning Laing Art Gallery, Tyne & Wear
Amy McDonald and Cat Hood Archives & Museums
Historic Environment Scotland
20 12 Leeds Museums and Galleries:
26 Heritage Hero Awards:
Through lockdown
#MuseumFromHome Learning and beyond
Videos and Additional Rebecca Barclay
Resources Archaeology Scotland
Emily Nelson
Leeds Museums and Galleries 28 Facilitating Remote Work-
Placements: When work is
14 Starting from Scratch: Creating something that you do,
a Digital Learning Programme not a place you go to
in Response to Covid-19 Laura Nicholls
Hannah Sweetapple Bath and North East Somerset
24
Egypt Centre, Swansea University Heritage Services (BANES)
16 Creating Pixelheads: 30 Queer Heritage Forum:
The National Videogame Taking Museum Pride
Museum at Home Online During Lockdown
Leah Dungay and Jack Shoulder, Danny Tokay
Dr Becky Parry Reid, Myla Corvidae
National Videogame Museum Queer Heritage Forum
32 Remote learning projects
03 GEM Case Studies Vol. 26 2020
Amy Eastwood
Museum of London
Adults,
Memories
Commun
ity
of London:
Lockdown Lessons
Project Intended outcomes Challenges
Memories of London aims to promote • To reduce loneliness and create a We faced multiple difficulties in pivoting
the wellbeing of those living with sense of connection our programme. Trying to translate
dementia. Prior to Covid-19, we offered a sensory programme to platforms
• To stimulate creativity to promote
a face-to-face onsite programme and that don’t permit touch or smell was
wellbeing
an extensive outreach programme with challenging. We embedded sensory
community partners. • To replicate our face-to-face engagement through various prompts,
programme for example asking participants
Background to collect herbs to smell in our live
• To connect personal memories to
Over 72,000 people live with dementia sessions, but this relied on carers to
the story of London
in London today and as a museum facilitate and necessitated access to
we aspire to be inclusive, accessible Intended outputs resources. Tailoring our programme to
and a force for good. We developed • Creative & Connected monthly suit different stages of dementia was
Memories of London in response to the hard-copy activity booklet impossible. Due to the demand for our
mayor’s pledge to become a dementia- paper packs, they were generic and
• London Lives podcasts with the
friendly city and are working to change sometimes too challenging for those
voices of those affected
our organisation. The Covid-19 crisis living with advanced dementia. We also
by dementia
acutely highlighted the plight of struggled with evaluating our impact
our older generation. Dementia is • Monthly live, online sessions on wellbeing. We did not have the
the most common pre-condition to led by artists immediacy of face-to-face delivery and
Covid-19 deaths with a surge of non- relied on second-hand accounts from
• Online videos
virus-related deaths due to isolation. carers through questionnaires.
Lockdown brought considerable
challenges including lack of digital
access, loneliness and the immediate Q10: Which of the following words and phrases would you use to
closure of vital wellbeing initiatives. describe the resource packs? Please choose 3 words.
Our work became more urgent than
Interesting
ever before.
Boring
Approach Useful
Our approach was flexible and Difficult
responsive. We aspired to create
resources that genuinely helped Easy
and undertook consultation with our Fun
dementia reference group, community/ Inspiring
health partners and care homes.
Our findings directly informed the Creative
resources we developed, and we Confusing
pivoted our programme to meet an
Accessible
immediate need.
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
04 GEM Case Studies Vol. 26 2020
This service is a valuable asset to the • Co-creation is vital to creating
centre and others living with a dementia.
meaningful learning experiences,
a sense of connection and
It reaches out to the most vulnerable in community.
our community when clients have been
• Cultural institutions have a
responsibility to advocate for the
isolating for such a long time. It keeps vulnerable in society, recognise
their contributions and offer a way
people engaged with paper packs and for their voice to be heard, such as
podcasts, and online sessions ensure
our London Lives podcasts.
• Not everyone has access to
people with dementia don’t feel they’re resources. If budget permits,
on their own.
include simple items such as
scissors and pens to ensure
equitable access.
• As cultural learning institutions
we need to think bigger, robustly
Outcomes Our actual outputs included the evaluate and advocate for
The outcomes for the project were following: increased investment. We really
positive. We were successful in helping can change lives.
• Monthly, printed booklets (also
to alleviate loneliness caused by We are continuing to offer these
downloadable)
Covid-19. Partners sighted our activity resources until the end of 2020
booklets as a ‘godsend’ for those • Monthly podcasts with interviews and are frequently adapting. In the
clients who were housebound. of those affected by dementia future we will consider offering a
‘The pack complemented the online • Monthly live online session led by combination of onsite, outreach and
sessions … All together they were an artist online resources.
like threads weaving a web of care
• All resources were linked to one
seemingly light and fragile, and yet so
object/theme from our collections
bouncy and bright!’
Our survey also revealed that the Lessons learned
resources impacted positively on • Cultural provision is not just a nice
wellbeing. This graph reveals that add on, it’s essential to combatting
people felt overwhelmingly ‘happy’ social isolation and loneliness.
and ‘relaxed’ and we successfully
connected individuals with the story • Actively engaging in creative
of London. processes through museum
learning is vital to wellbeing.
• A blended approach for remote Find out more
learning is most effective; digital
engagement is ideal for reaching Memories of London is funded by
those with advanced dementia the Greater London Authority
who cannot travel, and non-digital www.museumoflondon.org.uk/
resources are critical to those with memories/creative-connected
limited internet access.
www.museumoflondon.org.uk/
memories/london-lives
www.museumoflondon.org.uk/
memories
Amy Eastwood
Memories of London
Programme Manager
aeastwood@museumoflondon.org.uk
Marina Spiteri
Memories of London
Programme Coordinator
mspiteri@museumoflondon.org.uk
05 GEM Case Studies Vol. 26 2020
Susan Griffiths, Beth McDougall,
Nicola Bird and Thandi Wilson
University of Oxford Museums
Out of Touch?
Commun
ity
Flexible Connections with
Community Partners
Project Approach • Continue to stay connected and
During lockdown, the Community As far as possible we wanted our engaged with our audiences
Engagement Team tested new community partners to have the same
• Provide an alternative to online
methods to support community quality experience as an “in-person”
content
groups with activities for wellbeing. session, albeit from a distance. Instead
Each activity was developed by of translating our existing sessions • Develop resources deliverable to
listening to long-term local partners to virtual, we focused on supporting multiple community partners
and working with Community groups with physical resources and Intended Outputs
Ambassadors. new, tailored approaches. • Physical packs of art resources and
Intended Outcomes digital support materials for local
Background • Provide engaging and relevant MIND groups
Pre-pandemic, we delivered face- activities to support mental health
to-face creative outreach sessions • Art Packs for local families
and wellbeing
across Oxfordshire in collaboration • Online and hard copy newsletter
with community partners. The • Trial new ways of working made with/by and for older people
projects below supported adults
and young people experiencing
ill-mental health, adults in drugs and
alcohol rehabilitation, Multaka Oxford
volunteers and their families and older
people – all who faced varying levels
of social isolation during the pandemic.
Lockdown prompted many museums
to move engagement activity online.
This approach was not appropriate
for most of our community partners.
Our main challenges were:
• How do we continue to engage with
people who have little or restricted/
prohibited online access?
• How do we maintain the personal
connection between the museums
and our audiences without face-to-
face interactions?
06 GEM Case Studies Vol. 26 2020
in both online and hard copy. The
content is designed in collaboration
with the Museum of Oxford,
Community Hospitals and Older
People’s groups. One challenge has
been encouraging Older People to
contribute articles – often due to
confidence, as well as variable online
access. To encourage contributions,
we now collect stories over the phone
and through the post.
Lessons learned
• To be more tailored in our
approach. Even if the ‘in-person’
content and delivery method would
be similar for groups this might not
be the case when trying to engage
remotely.
• Support for community partners is
even more crucial. We are unable to
build personal rapport with groups
and individuals in our normal way.
We are relying even more heavily on
key workers within organisations to
advocate and help deliver content
Challenges instructional videos on USB drives,
on our behalf, most of whom are
• Short deadlines painting descriptions, a handwritten
under huge pressure. We need to
introduction from An, and art materials.
• Remote working including remote make sure we are actively supporting
Each offline pack was hand delivered
colleagues our partner organisations.
to our partners to distribute to
• Staff furlough their clients. • It’s ok to stop and take a breath.
We ran with ideas too quickly.
• Emotional strain of lost contact with The pack response was mixed –
Sometimes it’s better to step back
longstanding community partners without ‘normal’ access to Key
and wait for the right time, rather
and individuals Workers/Teachers, many of the
than rushing in because you feel like
participants from the Adult Rehab
• Working within infection control you should be doing something.
group and Young People’s In-Patient
guidelines Unit lacked motivation or confidence We will be listening and learning.
to complete open-ended, self- We are taking the time to reconnect
Outcomes led activities. However, the well- with our community partners,
• Ashmolean Young Rembrandt established MIND Art Group really understanding how things have
exhibition packs and digital support engaged with the activities. changed for them and working with
materials for young people and them to create relevant programmes.
The Multaka Oxford programme also
adults experiencing ill-mental delivered art packs to volunteers
health and adults in Drugs and and their families with craft materials
Alcohol Rehabilitation inspired by staff-made online videos.
Community Ambassador, Nuha Abdo
Find out more
• Multaka Art Packs and linked social
media for local families explained that, culturally, many Middle For further information
Eastern families have little/no arts contact Beth or Susan at
• Older People’s newsletter, and craft resources at home. From outreach@museums.ox.ac.uk
developed in collaboration with feedback, the volunteers were happy
the Museum of Oxford, Banbury The Young Rembrandt activities
to receive the packs and enjoyed the can be viewed at:
Museum Trust and Oxfordshire contents, which supported children’s
Community Hospitals www.ashmolean.org/young-
creative learning and kept adults rembrandt-learning-resources
The Young Rembrandt resources occupied during lockdown. However,
were developed with artist Dionne we are unsure if people accessed Multaka online resources:
Freeman, and curator, An Van Camp. the videos. www.youtube.com/channel/
These included online and offline UCKY2WDJQm47NfEFxI6bBSUw/
Finally, the Keeping Connected videos
versions of tailored art activities, newsletter has been well received
07 GEM Case Studies Vol. 26 2020
Marie Kennedy
University of Cambridge Museums
SEND/SE
Engaging children
N,
Digital
and young people
with SEND virtually
through lockdown
Project
During the Covid-19 lockdown, the
University of Cambridge Museums
(UCM) wanted to engage remotely
and maintain relationships with our
pre-existing audience of children
with special educational needs and
disabilities. Intended outcomes
were to create accessible, fun, virtual
resources for families at home suitable
for children with special educational
needs and disabilities as well as to
offer ongoing support to young
people with SEN and their parents
who might be experiencing isolation
during lockdown.
Background and approach
UCM is a consortium of the eight
University Museums and the
Cambridge University Botanic
Gardens supported by Arts Council
England as a Band 3 NPO. According
to government statistics in January
2020, 12.1% of all school pupils have a
special educational need, and we have
two main programmes for children
with special educational needs and
disabilities. Arts Pioneers, for young
people aged 11-19, is commissioned
by Cambridgeshire County Council.
They attend the Fitzwilliam Museum
on a monthly basis, then rotate around
the museums for holiday sessions. The
UCM also deliver ‘disability friendly
openings’ aimed at children with
sensory sensitivities and their families.
The structure for the virtual resources
was the same for both programmes,
but with added personalisation for the
Arts Pioneers. Each resource had three
08 GEM Case Studies Vol. 26 2020
The range of projects helped to
give me more ideas for creative things
J and I could do at home and so we
were creating things together all the
way through lockdown we could also
incorporate art things we’d done to
support things like writing practice.
sections; look, copy and make. Artist activities in a ‘bubble’ rather than • Make it ‘drop in’ – one parent said
educator Kaitlin Ferguson designed art being led by the young person’s “It was good for us not to have a set
activities and created short instruction interests. It would have been useful time we had to be available for a
films and templates. There were two to have developed an easy way for Zoom type session – other groups
‘levels’ of art activity, based on the people to upload any work they and school were using these and
child’s concentration levels; instant or created, like an online gallery. as lockdown wore on, it started
detailed. to feel like we were under a bit of
Actual outcomes and outputs pressure to fit in with sessions and
As Arts Pioneers is a reoccurring
One young person completed a he was finding communicating with
group, we could post out art materials
Bronze Arts Award, while others Zoom difficult.”
to everyone at the beginning of
lockdown and send out additional completed Bronze units. A parent We will continue to maintain a virtual
items as required. This meant the said, “The range of projects helped to offer for both groups during the
activities could be more creative with give me more ideas for creative things pandemic, as well as move to in
bespoke materials. For the other SEND J and I could do at home and so we person delivery when appropriate.
resources, we picked materials likely to were creating things together all the
be found at home. way through lockdown. We could also
incorporate art things we’d done to
support things like writing practice.“
Challenges and obstacles
Kaitlin Ferguson reflects “Before
lockdown, our in-person sessions
Two artists; Kaitlin Ferguson and
Jason Ions alternated creating
Find out more
were always designed to be sensitive, monthly activities for the arts pioneers Marie Kennedy, Learning
warm and dynamic. Our approach inspired by artworks and objects in Associate: Young People
isn’t prescriptive but governed by the museum collections, helping us mfk25@cam.ac.uk
responding to the group’s needs. to maintain our relationship with all www.museums.cam.ac.uk/activities
the participants. Kaitlin Ferguson, Artist Educator
As we moved to online activities, the
challenge we were faced with was how Young people created artwork and www.kaitlinferguson.com
to ensure that our offerings kept the shared it with us by email. In one Background to Arts Pioneers
same warmth and personal touch as case, artwork created by a member pre-lockdown:
our in-person sessions. of Arts Pioneers was used to offer www.museums.cam.ac.uk/
inspiration for families engaging with blog/2018/02/22/arts-pioneers-a-
At a time where food and art supplies
the Fitzwilliam Museum’s Look, Think, monthly-club-for-young-people-
were in short supply across the country,
Do family resources. with-physical-and-learning-
the disability friendly art activities
were based on what was likely to be in disabilities
the house which limited how creative Lessons learned
• Buy basic kit – We used our phones Background to disability friendly
we could be. We were aware of not openings pre-lockdown:
designing activities that required to shoot the films but invested in
cheap equipment such as a ring www.museums.cam.ac.uk/
expensive materials. blog/2020/06/08/in-an-ideal-world-
light and phone tripod to improve
At times we struggled to get feedback, the quality. museums-would-make-visiting-
so we felt like we were creating easier-by
09 GEM Case Studies Vol. 26 2020
Amy McDonald and Cat Hood
Historic Environment Scotland
Digital,
Learn at Home:
Schools
Digital resources for
lockdown learning
Project
In response to the switch to home
learning prompted by the UK lockdown
in March 2020, the learning team at
Historic Environment Scotland (HES)
created a new section of the website
called ‘Learn at Home’.
Background
With learners and learning practitioners
all at home, and our historic sites
closed, we wanted to make digital
access to our learning resources more
straightforward. As learning activities
are typically carried out by several
different teams across HES, learning
resources could be found in different
sections of our websites. We also
had many resources that were not yet
available online.
Approach
New and existing resources were
gathered from across the organisation
to support learning from home. Mindful
that many resources were originally
designed for learning practitioners
and would now be accessed directly
by young people or parents/carers, we
adjusted the language and content
where possible.
10 GEM Case Studies Vol. 26 2020Challenges
Given the software and skills we
had available, PDFs were the most
flexible and achievable format for our
resources. However, trying to get all of
the accessibility features right for PDFs
was challenging and we tried to make
printing optional.
Our budget was paused so we couldn’t
commission any new design work.
However, we had previously worked
with our designer to create style
guides and an illustration bank, so
we managed to format resources in
Microsoft Word or Adobe InDesign
ourselves with mixed success. We also
created new ‘Craft Knight’ films from
home using a phone, homemade
props, and the invaluable directing playful content into themed summer • Explore which channels to use to
and editing skills of a photographer activity weeks. This new content did not best reach your audiences
colleague. get the views we had hoped for, which
When Scottish schools returned to
made us question whether it had in fact
In the first few weeks of this project, the classroom in August, we renamed
been learning practitioners driving the
colleagues from our own Learning & the section ‘Learn, Create and Play’
April–June views.
Inclusion team as well as several other as this better reflects the themes of
teams across HES all rallied via Trello to Digital first the resources.
provide resources in a short space of We created 15 web pages that
The team is now preparing to
time. However, at the end of April many collectively host 19 Gaelic resources,
undertake a full-scale re-evaluation
of our colleagues were furloughed, 17 games resources, 35 ‘make & create’
and rebuild of our entire learning
limiting the experience, knowledge activities, 18 ‘draw & colour’ activities,
programme – which will involve robust
and expertise available. 12 educators’ resources, 11 ‘investigate’
audience consultation. We will then
resources, 7 videos and lots of links to
A better understanding of what embark on a strategic overhaul of our
partner resources.
teachers and families required would online resources using our own recent
have been invaluable to guide our To combat the limitations of delivering learning about creating, presenting,
planning. However, due to time learning activities via PDFs, we and promoting digital resources.
constraints and messages that teachers explored new options for creating more
especially were feeling overwhelmed, genuinely ‘digital first’ online learning.
we decided to postpone this research Virtual Visit templates have been
until Autumn 2020. created to house and display digital
assets to support learning (videos, 3D
Outcomes models, 360 photos, audio files) and will
Promotion be ready to share soon.
We created promotional social media
content but found HES social media Lessons learned
channels did not have a large audience • Collaboration is key! None of this
looking for learning. This led us to would have been possible without
explore developing new partnerships support from colleagues across the
with organisations like the Children’s
University and Cranachan Publishing to
organisation (Donna – thank you)
Find out more
• It’s fine to experiment and try new
develop themed activities hosted on You can find Learn, Create and
things. Some will work and some
their websites. Play (previously Learn at Home) at:
won’t – you’ll learn things from both
www.historicenvironment.scot/learn/
Analytics and audiences
• Learn from other people. When you learn-create-play
Google Analytics suggested the
find something great, consider what
most popular resources were the We welcome feedback and
it is that makes it great
more ‘light touch’ activities such as collaboration ideas!
colouring sheets, craft activities and • You don’t need to put everything
You can contact us at
games. Assuming it was largely families you have online – think about the
catriona.hood@hes.scot and
accessing our content, we grouped audience/relevance
amy.mcdonald@hes.scot
11 GEM Case Studies Vol. 26 2020Emily Nelson
Leeds Museums and Galleries
Schools,
Leeds Museums
Digital
and Galleries:
#MuseumFromHome Learning
Videos and Additional Resources
Project Background Approach
At the start of lockdown, Leeds In September 2018, LMG launched its The Learning and Access Officer at
Museums and Galleries (LMG) looked Primary School Membership Scheme the Discovery Centre was able to take
to our pre-existing school loans box to enable local primary schools to loans boxes home during lockdown to
scheme as a way of being able to access accessioned objects from make a 2-minute video each weekday
continue to engage with the public, the Museum’s collections to support looking at a different object. Each
and to support teachers and parents their classroom teaching. This led week had a different theme.
with home schooling. to the creation of over 50 topic-
To make it interactive, topics were
linked boxes containing accessioned
The Museum From Home videos chosen using weekly polls on
objects from the collections. Each
were made daily, and promoted by Facebook and Twitter. The videos
box was risk assessed to be loaned
LMG through Facebook, Twitter and were short enough to fit within
into primary schools unaccompanied
YouTube. Each week is complimented Twitter’s time parameters and formed
by museum staff. These were the
by an additional resources sheet, a set of resources that were snappy
basis for our Museum From Home
giving the videos a legacy as and engaging for all ages.
videos, as they were able to be
accessible learning resources for
accessed by our Leeds Discovery Intended outcomes
the future.
Centre Learning and Access Officer • Engage and interact with audiences
despite lockdown, were topic-linked, (pre-existing and new)
and contained accessioned objects
• Support teachers and parents with
from the collections.
home schooling
Intended outputs
• Create a set of resources that have
a legacy beyond Covid-19, and
support members to use loans
boxes in the classroom
Challenges
Although Leeds Museums and
Galleries already has online education
content through MyLearning.org,
our education and family programmes
have always been based on face
to face interaction. Lockdown
challenged us to put together
a programme of learning and
engagement online, with very little
warning.
The project was very time consuming,
as it relied on the Learning and
Access Officer spending every
12 GEM Case Studies Vol. 26 2020Social media
comments showed
that the Discovery
Centre was reaching
new audiences
who hoped to visit
when we reopen,
and that the people
accessing the content
were a mixture of
adults, families with
children, and schools.
Actual outputs included:
• 77 Museum From Home videos
• 16 additional resources sheets
available on the LMG Website, and
on the Historical Association’s new
Resource Hub
Lessons learned
• There is a real appetite for remote
learning, across an audience of
all ages
• We need to continue to cater for
weekday morning researching, impressions on social media by the this need as a learning team by
filming and subtitling each video. The 9th July 2020, as well as 91,825 video continuing to generate engaging
amount of time this took often varied, views (of all lengths). There had been digital/social media content based
and there were some complications 17,508 engagements with the content, around our collections
to start with about what software including retweets and likes. Overall,
and hardware to use. The videos 1,015 people engaged with the • Creating opportunities for led
were filmed in the least technical way topic polls. Social media comments and self-led remote learning can
possible, in one take through a laptop showed that the Discovery Centre help build our relationships with
camera with very little editing. The was reaching new audiences who local schools
setting was chosen to be as generic hoped to visit when we reopen, and
as possible, so that it was unclear that the people accessing the content
whether they were in an office or were a mixture of adults, families with
home location. The decision to create children, and schools. Anecdotally, a Find out more
additional supporting resource sheets number of member schools reported www.youtube.com/user/
came slightly later, and added to the using or signposting parents to leedsmuseums/playlists
demands of the project, meaning that the videos, and when returning to
they were always a few weeks behind school after the summer holidays, are https://museumsandgalleries.
the videos themselves. intended to continue using the videos leeds.gov.uk/virtual-visit/online-
in their teaching. A further outcome activities
Outcomes has been a partnership with a local Emily Nelson, Learning and
There are currently 77 Museum arts and events organisation, running Access Officer (Membership),
From Home videos on the Leeds a series of adult education events Leeds Discovery Centre, LS10 1LB
Museums YouTube playlist. The focused on Leeds’ History, which
films and the brief ‘Disco snapshot’ came directly from the organisation 0113 53 50469
videos showcasing the Museum Store watching the Museum From Home Emily.Nelson@leeds.gov.uk
itself had generated over 466,341 videos.
13 GEM Case Studies Vol. 26 2020Hannah Sweetapple
Egypt Centre, Swansea University
Digital,
Starting
Families
,
Schools
from Scratch:
Creating a Digital Learning
Programme in Response to Covid-19
Project
The Egypt Centre is Wales’ only
museum of Egyptian Antiquities based
in Swansea University. Before closing
due to Covid-19, the Egypt Centre
ran a popular learning programme
which was also the museum’s biggest
source of income. Overnight, we saw
all our income vanish as we had to
close our doors and cancel events and
school groups. This case study is the
story of how creativity came out of a
crisis and how we digitised a learning
programme in a matter of months with
a limited budget.
Background
Before the pandemic, we ran a popular
museum-based learning programme,
which was fully booked for months learning, foster engagement and Additionally, time was a factor as
in advance. Our most popular offer support creativity and wellbeing. We creating resources takes a lot of time
was our school visits, especially Key aimed to create a series of resources – especially when creating them in
Stage 2. We also offered loan boxes, that could be downloaded from the English and Welsh.
outreach and a host of family learning Egypt Centre’s website for free. These
activities programmed throughout the activities would be rooted in the Welsh Outcomes
year. Our challenge was to create an curriculum but ultimately be fun and We created several free learning
engaging, enjoyable and useful online easy to do from home. resources which are available on
learning programme. our website. We also responded to
Challenges requests for live sessions with our
Approach I did not have a lot of resources in “Log on and Learn” family workshops.
Our approach was to create digital my home. In the museum, we have a
learning resources to aid those who We measured impact by using Google
cupboard full of resources. However,
were learning from home. We wanted Analytics to study the visits to our
during lockdown I was limited to what
to create a range of activities that website. We also used the number
I had in my flat.
could support all aspects of home of views on the video content on
learning. This included worksheets Creating resources for a wide range of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
that linked to the curriculum and fun ages and advertising them properly This meant that we were using
activities that supported wellbeing. was a new challenge. We had to more quantitative data than before
rethink how we measured impact as lockdown. We also ran a survey
The intended outcome of the project we didn’t have a way of telling who using Survey Monkey to add to our
was to create several bilingual, learning was using the activities unless they qualitative data.
resources that would enhance home specifically told us.
14 GEM Case Studies Vol. 26 2020We engaged
a wider audience
than our ‘regulars’
including people
from a wider
geographical area
than we would in
the Museum.
• Now is the time to be creative and
play around with new software
and ideas. There is no rule book
on what is happening now.
• Be gentle with yourself, especially
if you have competing projects.
It was frustrating to see other
Learning Teams digitise and create
things in the blink of an eye. This
situation is new and stressful and
comparing yourself to others is
unhelpful.
The outputs from this project
provided a springboard for
the development of our Virtual
Classroom. This includes exclusive
worksheets and video content as well
as a one hour live facilitated session
with Museum staff. This is now up
and running and generating income
for the Museum.
We engaged a wider audience than worksheets were based off activities
our ‘regulars’ including people from we did in-house and some were
a wider geographical area than we brand new.
would in the Museum. We are currently
researching how these new audience Lessons learned
members found us. • Our most successful activities were
The Egypt Centre now has a dedicated the simplest.
Learning from Home page on our • In the end, it was a good thing that Find out more
website with a variety of worksheets, I didn’t have access to a cupboard Hannah Sweetapple
activities and crafts that can be full of resources. I was determined Email: h.e.sweetapple@
downloaded for free. These include to create crafts and activities that swansea.ac.uk
a range of worksheets and our digital would not require any specialist
Come and Create activities, the online Twitter: @H_Sweetapple
equipment.
version of our monthly craft activities. Our Learning from Home page
The Come and Creates include a • We needed to change the ways
we measured engagement. Our can be found here:
downloadable craft template and a www.egypt.swan.ac.uk/learning-
‘how-to’ video that shows you how old methods were not sufficient or
appropriate for digital engagement. from-home
to assemble the craft. Some of these
15 GEM Case Studies Vol. 26 2020Leah Dungay and Dr Becky Parry,
National Videogame Museum
Familie
Young P s,
Creating
eople,
Digital
Pixelheads:
The National Videogame
Museum at Home
Project The key challenges we wanted to • Enabling isolated children to work
Pixelheads is the National Videogame address were: together and build a videogame
Museum’s informal community for community
• Maintaining engagement and
children who want to learn about,
delivering remote learning • Introducing inclusive and accessible
talk about and create videogames. In
opportunities to our family activities which could prompt further
the summer we ran virtual Saturday
audiences while the museum was independent creative activity
Pixelhead club in weekly live-streamed
closed
sessions on our YouTube channel. Intended outputs were:
• To enable online learning and • 6 facilitated livestreams on YouTube
Background social experiences for children throughout summer holidays in July/
The National Videogame Museum August 2020
opened in Sheffield in 2018. In the first Approach • Increased engagement in the
year, we welcomed 40,000 visitors, To make these sessions sociable we ‘NVM at Home’ programme
school groups and families. Before opted to mirror the styles of online
lockdown, we were in the process of videogame-based content through
Challenges
redeveloping our education strategy live-streaming, a format that many
The key obstacle has been keeping
working with Dr Becky Parry at the children are already familiar with. Using
up with and responding to the ever-
University of Sheffield. the chat function and moderation
changing needs of our audience over
within the livestream itself, we could
Initially we anticipated the focus of lockdown. In relation to Pixelheads,
enable co-design, collaborative
our work being on face to face activity this included:
making and walk-through tutorials.
with children and their teachers,
• Understanding and mitigating
but we took the opportunity (and Intended outcomes included:
technical challenges, both for our
challenges) of the Covid-19 lockdown • Maintaining connections to local
team and those for those taking part.
to prioritise online learning for family audiences while closed
Many families struggled with lack of
children and families.
technology or internet access.
16 GEM Case Studies Vol. 26 2020• Challenges of remote engagement was ‘attended’ by 25 families on Looking into other modes of
and working from home. average with an initial watch time of interactivity that would still be
300hrs (approx.), with hundreds of accessible is the next challenge.
• Performing – setting the right tone.
comments and the busiest session
While we took inspiration from • We discussed rules for the chat,
reaching over 750 comments.
existing videogame media, it was and this proved highly useful to
important to distinguish ours as • Generation of new content encouraging children to ensure that
more family focused content. developed by our Learning Officer the chat was kinder than can often
who facilitated each session be the case in this context.
Outcomes which included exploration of the
Our next steps are to build on the
• Throughout the sessions we have museum’s collection, industry
lessons learned to develop the
seen children and their families interviews and creative making.
Pixelheads programming both on and
return each week with parents also • The establishment of an enthusiastic offline. We plan to continue to create
following up on social media. community for Pixelheads who would digital content alongside reopening
• The enthusiastic feedback like to see the programme continue. and future gallery activities, opening
demonstrated that families who up opportunities for inclusion, access
engaged had appreciated the Lessons learned and reach. Through this, we hope to
community aspect of Pixelheads, • Developing weekly sessions took keep engaging with audiences built
with one family stating they took part significant time and preparation, up over lockdown, developing this
‘so [their] children could learn and but this meant we were able community and provide additional
engage with other young people to incorporate suggestions by opportunities for co-production
during lockdown’. the community. between young people and families.
• The sessions supported meaningful • Harnessing the enthusiasm of young
engagement with collections; for people through Pixelheads, we
example, we asked participants were able to engage their families
to vote for one of two objects in the possibilities for learning Find out more
from the collection to discuss in within videogames.
the following session and used National Videogame Museum:
• Using a moderated chat function www.thenvm.org
participants’ suggestions for
worked well to include audiences
activities each week. Contact: Leah Dungay (Learning
and allow for interaction, but we
want to explore better accessibility Officer) leah@thenvm.org
Outputs and management. Twitter @LeahDungay
• 6 live-streamed sessions on
YouTube facilitated by the • The livestream format itself can be makeyproject.eu and
Learning Officer, with 1.2k views restrictive for families without easy makerfutures.org
and counting. Each livestream access to the internet or technology.
17 GEM Case Studies Vol. 26 2020Kate Noble, Rosanna Evans and Holly Morrison
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
Schools
a
Families nd
,E
Look Think Do:
Years, C arly
hildr
and You en
ng
People
creating accessible and
relevant content for schools
and families during lockdown
Project Approach Challenges
Look Think Do are digital learning Previous research with schools and Fortunately, the schools’ team were
activities for students and families to teachers had revealed that they were not furloughed and could thus
do together. They are designed to interested in starter activities and dedicate significant time to the
encourage them to look closely at an questions to support them to use project. We also had support from
artefact, to think, and do an activity. objects in their teaching. The format of colleagues in various departments
‘Look, Think, and Do’ took inspiration including digital, marketing, curatorial,
Background from the approach we take daily photography and the image library.
The Fitzwilliam Museum is the lead when teaching from objects in the
As we coped with the practical and
partner of the University of Cambridge galleries. We were also interested in
emotional stress of lockdown, we
Museums consortium. The museum how working digitally enabled us to
encountered many challenges.
houses a collection of over half a profile works which were not usually
million works of art, which date from on display and artists or objects from How do you keep in touch with and
antiquity to the present day. Typically, under-represented groups. collect feedback from audiences when
the museum welcomes about 14,000 the museum is closed?
Intended outcomes included:
school visitors a year. • To sustain engagement with local How can we provide opportunities for
With the museum closed due to schools during lockdown families who don’t have access to art
lockdown, we pivoted from on-site or digital resources?
• To enable children and families
provision to the creation of digital to access the collection remotely Are the traditional boundaries
resources. We were concerned between our schools and families
about the limitations imposed by • To develop our digital skills
programmes still relevant when
Covid-19 but were determined to Our intended output was a set engagement is happening at home?
create quality resources with legacy of digital resources for schools
beyond the immediate lockdown What is achievable with limited budget?
and families with hi-res images
period. Resources were designed and and videos. What new digital skills do we need to
constructed at home by members of learn to enable us to create content
the schools’ team. of this kind?
We created Look Think Do activities for
36 objects – about 108 different activities.
We also created 14 ‘how to’ videos and 5
story videos, with simpler image collages
and instructions or suggestions for smaller
scale ‘Do’ activities.
18 GEM Case Studies Vol. 26 2020Lessons learned
• Museum educators are very
creative! Make the most of what you
have easy access to and play to your
individual strengths and talents
• Think ahead Evaluate your existing
offer and plans for the future.
• Start with what you know – what
are the most popular themes and
objects in your collections?
• Be playful – the extraordinary
situation we found ourselves in
during lockdown forced us to take a
more playful and iterative approach
to content creation.
• Expand the possibilities – what
does the digital realm enable you
to do differently?
• Don’t be too hard on yourself –
be realistic about what you can
achieve with the resources you
have available to you during a
global pandemic.
Outcomes image collages and instructions
It is difficult for us to know the actual or suggestions for smaller scale
outcomes of Look Think Do, but we ‘Do’ activities.
do know via Google Analytics that we
In order to reach families who didn’t
had over 25,000 page views between
have access to a home computer, we
March and July 2020. We know,
successfully gained funding from the
through friends and families, that
Fitzwilliam Museum Marlay Group and Find out more
activities were being sent home by
repurposed other budgets to create www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/
schools during lockdown, and analytics
over 1,000 Look Think Do activity lookthinkdo/about
showing strong local usage suggest
packs. These were distributed to local
that our well-established network of Rosanna Evans, Learning
families via our community partners
schools were important in reaching Associate: Schools and Teachers
and city council foodbanks under the
individuals across the region. At the rfe22@cam.ac.uk
co-ordination of Miranda Stearn, our
end of the summer term, we set up a
Head of Learning, and Nicola Wallis, Holly Morrison, Museum Educator
primary teacher panel to help us to
who runs our Early Years programme. hppm2@cam.ac.uk
develop and evaluate future resources.
We created Look Think Do activities Kate Noble, Senior Research
for 36 objects – about 108 different Associate: Museum Learning
activities. We also created 14 ‘how to’ kjr21@cam.ac.uk
videos and 5 story videos, with simpler Further information on the
University of Cambridge Museums
Blog: www.museums.cam.ac.uk/
blog/2020/09/16/look-think-do
19 GEM Case Studies Vol. 26 2020Lucy Maycock
Horniman Museum
Schools,
Families
Getting
, Ho
Educatio me
n,
Digital
Resourc
‘Hands on’
es
with Digital
Project Challenges • Going ‘Digital’: With the Museum
In March 2020, The Horniman’s Our schools offer revolves around suddenly focused on digital
Schools team produced 5 curriculum- hands-on learning. When the output (and a new website due
linked videos for home educating Horniman closed, our only digital to launch), our small Digital team
families. These new resources were resources were designed to support was swamped. We didn’t have the
created over a week in response to the pre and post-visit teaching or gallery ability to publish content, or to
Museum’s closure. visits. Covid-19 highlighted this share work on the Museum’s social
weakness in our programme and left media pages. This caused delays
Whilst the videos have had over 4,000
us little time to create new content. and meant we were unable to reach
views and received fantastic feedback,
schools before lockdown (as we
the steep learning curve (starting with
Obstacles had hoped).
few digital skills) has taught us many
useful lessons. • Equipment: With very limited time • Evaluation: We focused on
and budget, we recorded with producing the videos quickly but
mobile phones rather than proper didn’t consider ways to capture
Background and approach
filming equipment, so the videos data or meaningful engagement,
The Horniman Museum and Gardens
are sometimes shaky or muffled. instead relying on YouTube views.
has a long-established, charged-for
Schools Programme. We have • Communications: Co-creation was We conducted a small teacher
around 41,000 school visitors a clunky as the Schools team worked consultation after the videos had
year (pre-Covid). from home and relied on emails, been launched, when little could
which are slower and less effective be changed.
We decided to produce a series
than other messaging platforms. Our intended project outcomes
of short videos, filmed within the
galleries, featuring objects from • Lack of digital know-how: included sustaining engagement with
our Handling Collection. To reduce We didn’t have software that learners during closure and supporting
development time, we recycled would have enabled the team to home educating families, especially
content from existing workshops collaborate simultaneously on the those doing this for the first time.
and spent a day filming as much as same content. All editing work was
possible before lockdown. done by one person on basic video
editing software.
From home, we designed
complementary activities for mixed- • Museum closure: With just a day
aged learners that utilised readily to film, we didn’t review our videos
available resources. until we got home, so issues were
not picked up until lockdown had
The videos were posted on YouTube
been announced and it was too late
and advertised through Facebook
to return to the Museum.
Home Education groups, social media
and existing mailing lists.
20 GEM Case Studies Vol. 26 2020Lessons learned The format works
Think ahead Introducing simply worded activity As a parent
To finish this project quickly, we
slides with short videos worked I really love the
fact it’s short and
well for children and adults alike:
recycled content from our schools
“As a parent I really love the fact
workshops in the videos, however
this now means that we cannot use
it’s short and snappy and that [my
daughter] could go do the activities
snappy and that
them as pre-visit resources for booked
classes. In future, we’d like videos
independently.” [my daughter] could
to offer a ‘taste’ of our workshops We can do it! go do the activities
without duplicating material. For us, this project has demystified
‘going digital’ – it doesn’t have to be independently.
Measuring success
expensive and isn’t as difficult as we’d
We are delighted with the number of
thought. Our USP has always been
views that the videos have received
hands-on engagement, but the videos
but, with hindsight, should’ve
have been a real success and we’re
captured more valuable data and
now excitedly seeking new ways to
encouraged longer-term engagement
facilitate object interactions that don’t
with the Museum. In future, we will
rely on touch.
set clearer goals for digital work so it
is easier to measure success, gather Our next steps include:
more audience data, and ask users to
• Staff training
join our mailing list.
• Conduct evaluation to inform
Invest in digital
future output
The videos have given us a better
idea of the equipment, staff training • Create more videos and develop Find out more
and software needed to support a a blended Schools programme Our videos can be found on the
digital offer. We’ve brushed-up on the Horniman’s YouTube channel
Museum’s style and digital guidelines, www.youtube.com/user/horniman
are looking for better platforms for
If you would like more information,
co-creation, and are seeking the
please contact me: lucym@
permissions to upload and edit digital
horniman.ac.uk
content ourselves.
21 GEM Case Studies Vol. 26 2020Frances Jeens
Jewish Museum London
Schools,
Virtual,
Virtual
Blended
Learning
Classrooms:
Facilitated Teaching
to Schools
Project Approach • To income generate and deliver to
The Virtual Classrooms are our flagship We had a simple approach to deal with our funders
digital programme launched in the the complexity of the situation.
• The retention of our core audience
middle of the lockdown. This is a
• Decide that Virtual Classrooms
new, and now permanent, aspect of • To ensure the experience is
would become a core part of our
programming for schools. multisensory through use of
permanent schools’ programme
going forward so we could allocate – Immersive environments
Background resources
Last year the museum welcomed – Interpretative videos
over 20,000 student visits. We teach • Start with audience research with
– First-person encounters
complex subjects including religion, teachers
war, politics, racism, stereotyping, Intended outputs were as follows:
• Cannibalise our resources
intersectionality of identities and grief • Create and integrate new digital
and loss. • Recognise that our biggest asset is safeguarding guidelines
our expert team of educators
Our schools audience has a high • Create 16 virtual workshops that
percentage of secondary students Intended outcomes were as follows: based on our current programmes
(40%) and around 70% of visiting • To launch a new permanent
• To pilot the Virtual Classrooms with
schools are from inner-London state programme for schools
500 students before August 2020
schools who rely on our bursary • To build on our established learning
schemes and using free public theory
transport. Facilitated learning is
essential to our learning theory and
time with our expert educators is not
replaceable. With “going virtual”,
our challenge was how to stay true
to our learning theory and ensure
face to face learning whilst social
distancing is paramount.
22 GEM Case Studies Vol. 26 2020You can also read
