International Training Programme 2021 – Week 12
Written by George Peckham, International Training Programme Assistant
We have reached our final week of our ITP 2021 e-Learning! The last 12 weeks have flown by and we are very excited to be sharing our final core-session with the 2021 fellows!
The final core session of our ITP 2021 e-Learning is Going Digital!
With the onset of COVID-19, working online proved essential to the culture and heritage sector. In 2020, with the aim of keeping connected with their audiences, museums around the UK took projects and programmes online. Taking events, learning and exhibitions which could not be delivered in person due to the pandemic online not only solved an immediate challenge but now, as we move towards a ‘new normal’, offers new and exciting hybrid and blended opportunities.
In this week’s session we are looking at three aspects of museums going digital: online learning; online events and online exhibitions.
For the first module we look at a case study of the British Museum event moving online. The British Museum’s National Programmes Conference seeks to explore key subjects and issues affecting UK museums and cultural heritage. Addressing a new topic each year, the conference aims to be timely, useful and relevant to a wide audience of professionals in different disciplines from museums and galleries across the UK. This module covers how this conference was moved online, including the challenges and learning outcomes.
The second module considers online training, with a look at the British Museum’s Museum Futures training programme. While giving an overview of the programme, this module explores how this programme was moved online and some of the challenges of conducting online learning.
For module three we hear from our ITP UK partners at Norfolk Museum Service to explore online exhibitions. Here the fellows will hear about the benefits, challenges and key considerations for developing online exhibitions.
Finally, this week in our ‘in conversation’, Anna Cottle spoke to me about the ITP’s social media! We talked about some of the things we’ve done on social media this year and I shared some advice and considerations for getting started with social media, from a non-expert perspective.
We hope the ITP 2021 fellows have enjoyed the e-Learning experience. The weeks have flown by so quickly! We will continue to engage with the cohort remotely over the coming weeks, and will be sharing our reflections and ideas soon.