4/26 Wrapping up the semester

The last meeting of the semester was focused on the Learning Lab, exploring museums virtually and talking about what the fall semester might look like. Philippa Rappoport  joined us once again, and guided Fellows in exploring a number of the tools available in the Digital Learning Lab. The group had the opportunity to engage in practice activities that could be replicated with their students.  Fellows found these activities very helpful, and felt that they had some new ways to work with the lab and with their students.   Discussion was lively, and many saw intersections of ideas between disciplines and the possibility of future joint projects.

While we are all hoping to be back in the museums in the fall, we also know that nothing is certain right now. Plan A is that Spring seminars will be rescheduled, with museum visits as originally planned. Plan B is that we will start with the seminars in remote fashion and that if at some point the museums reopen and visits are feasible, we will shift to live sessions. The pandemic is challenging all of us to think in new ways. Additionally, the trip to the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) will happen in either fall or spring, depending on the situation. This was a bonus activity involving a full day experience. If all seminars end up in remote format, an additional live activity will be scheduled for this group of Fellows once conditions permit.

Summer will be spent thinking, planning and investigating possibilities. How will students complete projects if they have to be done without an actual museum visit? How can a virtual exhibition and the Digital Learning Lab be used in ways that provide a good learning experience for students? What about a combination of virtual and actual visits?  How does the current pandemic intersect with climate change? The Fellows left with many good ideas and ways to move forward, and we look forward to hearing everyone’s ideas when we meet again in September.