While working at the El Paso Museum of History this summer, I have come to realize how important the role of technology can be in education today. There are so many great tools available to educators that can have a major impact on a visitor's experience. For example, just last year the EPMH opened DIGIE, or a Digital Information Gateway in El Paso. It is the first of its kind in the U.S., modeled after the original at the Museum of Copenhagen in Denmark. The basic idea behind DIGIE is that it is a digital wall, where thousands of photographs and videos have been uploaded, and continue to be uploaded daily. The wall is open to the public, so any one can submit something they feel would be of value to the project (though images are screened first to ensure they are appropriate). Visitors can touch the screen to engage with an interactive timeline that allows them to explore the city at different points in history, as well as photographs and videos. They can also leave comments and video messages, or send digital postcards anywhere in the world. It has been so much fun to see visitors interact with the wall. They love learning more about their city and have really taken DIGIE on as a community project. Children especially love it. Another example is the project I have been working on for most of the summer - a Moodle website for the museum. Moodle is a platform from which you can build an educational website, with games and activities that can be completed online, at home, or in the classroom. If students complete a certain number of the "assignments" they can earn badges. Tools like DIGIE or Moodle can really help visitors engage with the museum and with the larger picture of the city's history. It has been so much fun learning about these programs, I'm really enjoying it!
Sincerely,
Samantha Evans
Wow, that screen sounds incredible. I hope you have some images of it and don't mind me asking more questions about it. It sounds like it is a piece of art in itself. What a way to bring in the next generation of museum-goers by "hooking" them with technology.
ReplyDeleteThose programs sound great and I really think a city like Fort Worth or Dallas would also be great for that sorta thing, being that they both have very rich histories and some great stories and such that go along with them! Sending digital postcards to anyone in the world really sounds fun and a great way to keep in touch with someone far away. I think that technology and especially digital technology are going to be VERY important in our fields in the future, there is really now way around it at this point. I've really enjoyed being in the FabLab this summer and learning how to work with laser cutter and CNC machines, I believe it will create a new facet of art and will bring the younger generations of student and artists a new and exciting way to make art. I'm really glad you enjoyed your time and I'll look forward to seeing you again soon.
ReplyDelete