DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY FOR MUSEUM LEARNING Ashmolean Museum 2 March 2012 Martin Bazley (Martin Bazley & Associates)

Martin Bazley Previously Teaching (7 yrs) Science Museum, London, Learning Unit, Internet Projects (7yrs) E-Learning Officer, MLA South East (3yrs)

Martin Bazley Currently Vice Chair, DLNET (was E-Learning Group for Museums, Lib, Archives)DLNET Consultancy, websites, training, user testing, evaluation … Martin Bazley & Associates

Digital technology for museum learning 1015 Museum websites and new media – What is ‘new media’? – Museum website functions 1115 – 1130 Break 1130 Creating online content – How people use the web – About creating online content 1230 – 1315 Lunch

1315 Online resources for schools and video for the web – The online learning resources market: – Video for websites 1430 – 1445 Break 1445 Crit room and surgery – Who is my website for? What will it offer this audience? How, when, where, why – Review examples / simulated user testing 1630Feedback forms and close

Sharpen your mice... starter for 10 What ways can you think of, in which digital technology can be used to engage and work with young people? What’s the difference between new media and social media? Why ‘new’ and why ‘social’?

Sharpen your mice... starter for 10 What social media services have you heard of, and what do you know about them? Which is more popular with young people, MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn or WordPress? What is RSS?

Sharpen your mice... starter for 10 What is a blog and where does the word come from? What is a podcast and where does the word come from?

Sharpen your mice... starter for 10 When using Facebook to work with young people, it is important to.... CommonCraft videos Online audiences site Podcast examples?

Header inc banner – establishes visual identity Main navigation – contents summary, links to sections Section (context- sensitive) navigation – contents summary and links Right hand column – links to relevant items within site, sometimes outside it Main content area

Website examples spx

Elements of online learning resources Image(s) + caption(s) Key question(s) / short activities Background teacher notes / pupil activity sheets Zoomable images Video Interactive More complex functionality Increasing cost and complexity Most useful for teachers These are the first things to provide, and do not require high levels of IT expertise or investment Video can be done quite easily The others will mean investment of money and /or expert time This is good news. Maybe creating online learning resources is not so difficult?

We are all different and some people like to read all the text on a web page before deciding what to do next, even though a lot of it might be pretty redundant but most people – or at least most regular users of the web – rather than reading through them in detail just scan the web pages they are using, or at least the ones where they are still trying to work out where to go next

Users won't read your text thoroughly word-by-word. Exhaustive reading is rare, especially when browsing. Yes, some people will read more, but most won't.

The first two paragraphs must state the most important information. There's some hope that users will actually read this material – though they'll probably read more of the first paragraph than the second.

Start subheadings, paragraphs, and bullet points with information- carrying words that users will notice when scanning down the left side of your content in the final stem of their F- behaviour. They'll read the third word on a line much less often than the first two words.

If they have to work at it for example if they cannot see what they are looking for, or if it doesn’t make sense to them at first glance then most people – or at least many people who do a lot of searching or browsing on the web just decide that this particular site is not for them, and anyway they have a long list of other search results or ideas to try and so they go elsewhere

Exercise: Make this web page better

About website structure, ways people use the web and implications for writing for the web

Certain types of websites impose linear user journeys: TheTrainline.com Cinema ticket bookings Self assessment tax return online

In most websites, although there are some linear elements …

… people like to have other pathways available to them…

… and most journeys are very non-linear

Also, most people reach your website via Google Only 20% arrive at your website on the home page

Most may not have had your site in mind when searching

30% of them go to home page to ‘try and work out what this site is about’

So each page on the site must quickly: (a)engage users and (b)give sense of what site is about – otherwise most will leave

‘Writing for the web’ is not just about text…

… but also choosing the right images … layouts … graphical look and feel …website structure etc

Key point of paragraph/ section Image clearly related to text Broken into short paras

Short video guides Rs&eurl= reg.co.uk/archives/video-writing-your-web-copyhttp:// Rs&eurl= reg.co.uk/archives/video-writing-your-web-copy Writing web headlines

Header inc banner – establishes visual identity Main navigation – contents summary, links to sections Section (context- sensitive) navigation – contents summary and links Right hand column – links to relevant items within site, sometimes outside it Main content area

Home page: key functions Offer overview: –Show user what the site can do for them –Show user what is in the site: The structure at a glance Content highlights or samples Engagement: – make user want to continue browsing –

Article page: key functions Engage the user – make them want to consume the article Signposting: –Show user what else is nearby in the site The structure at a glance –Show user what else the site offers them – –

Short writing exercises

Home page: key functions Offer overview: –Show user what the site can do for them –Show user what is in the site: The structure at a glance Content highlights or samples Engagement: – make user want to continue browsing

Article page: key functions Engage the user – make them want to consume the article Signposting: –Show user what else is nearby in the site The structure at a glance –Show user what else the site offers them – –

Task: create some online content

Decide where in the site this will be Add a title Short, clear summary Write a few sentences. Add subheading Few more sentences Banner This is an ARTICLE page

Title Add a summary? Each ‘promo’ needs Title Image? One-line descn Links to related points elsewhere in this site Where in the site is this? This is a SECTION page - one of these links goes to the article page

Interactive whiteboards

Roles of IWB … at different points in the lesson / learning cycle –Starter –Main –Plenary

Interactive” means “lots of things moving on screen, clickable, automatic response, quizzes etc interaction between students, teacher and screen – activities, conversation, cognitive engagement, etc first meaning used mainly by companies trying to market whiteboards, software etc as ‘interactive’ second used mainly by educators

Resources - examples Bedford Bytes Britons at War Ashmolean sites Tate Tools Museum Network ArtworksMuseum Network National Portrait Gallery Mary Seacole National Gallery Museum of London Fire of London

Resources for use on whiteboards - examples Wartime in Bedford fault.htmhttp:// fault.htm yid=409 (Passion for Fashion) yid=409 journeyid=318 (Ruskin) journeyid=318 Ford Madox Brown MAG

Some examples – natural-history/index.htmlhttp:// natural-history/index.html – collections/highlights-of-the- collection/narrativeobject.php?irn=876http:// collections/highlights-of-the- collection/narrativeobject.php?irn=876 – 77/ 77/ –

More information: Well presented advice on usability including writing for the web, with a useful little self test option A one page structured set of advice: pywriting/writing-for-the-web/ pywriting/writing-for-the-web/

More information (2) Simple to follow good practice list: and/webwriting.aspx Articles to read and help you develop skills html Classic advice from usability guru Jakob Nielsen

Elements of online learning resources Image(s) + caption(s) Key question(s) / short activities Background teacher notes / pupil activity sheets Zoomable images Video Interactive More complex functionality Increasing cost and complexity Most useful for teachers These are the first things to provide, and do not require high levels of IT expertise or investment Video can be done quite easily The others will mean investment of money and /or expert time

Two contrasting examples of resource development Both produced for Ashmolean Museum -Flash interactive -John Ruskin resources including video

Funded through Take One… Picture project Repurposing an existing activity Focus on interactive element – buying in expertise not available in-house Opportunity to review and improve content Opportunity to involve local teachers Time consuming (attention to detail important), but great results! Attempts to create interactives in house less successful Example 1: Brighton Then & Now whiteboard interactive Brighton Then and Now screenshot education/resources/resou rces2011/interactives/Brig hton/Brighton.html

Take One Picture interactive: pros +An ‘interactive’ resource often seems more attractive. +Offers a richer experience around each painting. +Activity is closely guided, so can be used even by inexperienced teachers.

Take One Picture interactive: cons -Relatively expensive to produce. -Quite limited in application – teachers cannot adjust to suit their needs. -Because most images / assets are ‘wrapped’ in Flash, this type of resource is sometimes less findable via Google etc.

Funded through AHRC grant - small component of bigger project Starting from scratch - defining concept very time consuming Opportunity to work closely with local school on in depth project Heavy demands on education staff time – (esp Joint Museums Art Education Officer) Opportunity to try out new approaches eg video clips Resulted in ‘solution’ for education staff to create teaching and learning packages (requiring minimal help from busy ICT team) Example 2: ‘Through Ruskin’s Eyes’ learning package ‘Through Ruskin’s Eyes’ screenshot molean.org/ruskin/

John Ruskin resource: pros +Provides images, videos and straightforward activities that students or teachers can use in their own way. +Less expensive to develop +More likely to be found via Google etc +Used WordPress.com for prototyping and Wordpress.org for the final site – with the option to produce more as required

John Ruskin resource: cons -Does not have the ‘wow’ factor of an ‘interactive’

Overall comparison TOP: approach quite well defined so easier to see the potential. More constrained. Ruskin: more specialist audience so more in depth activities. Working with partners creative but increases complexity.

Wordpress.com vs Wordpress.org Wordpress.com is particularly quick to get going – great for developing and trialling resources, or just playing around with ideas Wordpress.org needs installation and a little maintenance, but offers a stable website solution

Making websites - CMSs - free website creation service (pay extra for features like own domain name etc). All hosting and upgrading etc is done for you

Making websites - CMSs - free website creation service – like.com except you have to install it on your server and you are responsible for updating, hosting costs, etc

Making websites - CMSs - free open- source CMS specially developed for cultural and heritage sector. Powerful and easy to use e.g. in-place editing

Making websites - CMSs - free website creation service – you install it on your server and you are responsible for updating, hosting costs, etc - very similar to wordpress.org

Video for the web Reasons to use it Moving images have much more impact, tend to attract more interest Demonstrate evidence of engagement with school groups / other learners Good medium for explaining things, stimulating discussion etc

Video for the web Equipment, technical etc Video camera – choose something simple without too many controls (RIP Kodak Zi8...) Use an external microphone – sound quality is biggest factor in overall quality. Tripod probably a good idea Think about lighting, background noise etc

Video for the web Storyboarding Plan for a short video (for the web, for schools, for general interest) You can always add more clips, and present them as ‘chapters’ in a sequence Imagine shooting it and play it back in your mind – then revise the storyboard

Video for the web Editing Most time consuming element! Many hours, for short clips, until more experienced. Free programs fine – iMovie (Mac), MovieMaker (Windows), and search online ‘cutaways’ is main additional feature you might need – Adobe Premiere Elements?

Video for the web Sharing and uploading YouTube, Vimeo etc – these handle all the format conversion for you and provide streaming service Upload file to website – can be good (YouTube blocked in some schools) but more technical fiddling required.

Developing a learning resource: iterative review your content   curriculum (find a match) Check Does it match your audience’s specific needs? If so TEST - and then amend Learning activities   Learning outcomes (find a match)

‘What have museums ever done for us?’ The main value added for teachers working online is selection of suitable material with learning activities and outcomes in mind Focus resources on editorial, evaluation and testing rather than technical functionality

Elements of online learning resources Image(s) + caption(s) Key question(s) / short activities Background teacher notes / pupil activity sheets Zoomable images Video Interactive More complex functionality Increasing cost and complexity Most useful for teachers

Reflection How can you create effective learning resources on a limited budget? What are the quick wins for teachers, in online provision? How do you build a case for investing in the development of online resources?

Website users

Who uses your website? Why would they want to use it? How would they find it? What do they get out of it? What do they dislike about it?

How do you get it right for everyone? Answer: You can’t get it right for everyone. You have to make choices, and stick to them: Who is it for? What.. How…

Who for…? What for? How will they use it?

Learning resource: iterative planning content   curriculum (find a match) Learning activities   Learning outcomes (find a match) Filtered by your specific audience needs

Who for…? What for? How will they use it?

Who for what for... Who for? (audience) Need to be clear from start mum + 2 children looking for something to do this weekend teachers of yr5/6 in local area with whiteboards men interested in gadgets

Who for what for... What ‘real-world’ outcomes? What will they do as a result of using the site? make a donation plan a visit to a museum buy a train ticket think differently about learning disability

Who for what for... How will they use it? (user experience) What do they actually do on the site? browse and read articles working alone or in pairs? (learning resources) lean forward or sit back? Browsing, following, searching… Also Where, When and Why?

Examples of teacher feedback Vimeo videos Key ideashttp://vimeo.com/ Lesson starterhttp://vimeo.com/ Timesaverhttp://vimeo.com/

Who for what for... Website appraisal –For each example note first impressions Who is it for? What does it offer them? How will they use it?

Crit room

Simulated user testing -Learn how user testing works -Get feedback on specifics of websites Remember this is just a simulation of real user testing!

Crit room sites

More information / advice / ideas Martin Bazley