Using image resources in Theatre Studies Mark Childs, Centre for Academic Practice, University of Warwick

Based on three projects Externally-funded projects at Warwick with School of Theatre Studies ANNIE project – a variety of different technologies to provide access to expertise ARCHES project – making digital resources available to students and lecturers THEATRON project – creating 3D models of theatres

Purpose of session Brief introduction to the resources used Description of how we used them Some of the issues with using image and VR model resources in teaching

Stand-Up Comedy Web-based activities Examples drawn from face-to-face class Studio-based work using resources Videoconference follow-up Final show

Lest We Forget Web-based resources –Web-pages –Scans from newspapers –Links provided by students Webconferenced tutorials Students presentations uploaded for assessment Discussion board for feedback on work

Performance Spaces Course website ‘03: reviewing websites and commenting on reviews ’04: answering questions in blogs and commenting on others’ blogs Classroom presentations using Internet- based resources

Examples of blog use Students answer questions using resources from gallery Students look up webpages and comment on them Blog examples ppt

Romanisation of Greek culture Students in groups create presentation in ARCHES –Draw on images and metadata in ARCHES –Add own ideas from their reading –Store in repository Present work to rest of class

The ARCHES repository The ARCHES project draws on private collections of slides owned by lecturers It should be easy to use It should work through a standard web browser All but the minimum of metadata to be autogenerated because we want students to learn by creating learning objects.

Places of Performance The software – THEATRON The situation - second year undergraduate module The activity – students select a theatre and present information to rest of class

THEATRON 3D reconstructions Nineteen European theatres Earliest 1 st Century B.C.E. Latest 20 th Century C.E. Theatre of Dionysos

RBL in Theatre Studies Issues with process not content Information skills demands lecturers acting as mediators Lecturers acting as authorisers of knowledge The issue of “spoonfeeding”

Prerequisite skills IT skills (minimal) Collaborative working (moderate) Activity-based learning (moderate) Information skills (most important)

The issues Creating metadata for resources Making accessible Structuring activity Providing prerequisite skills Integrating activity into classroom work

ARCHES phase 2 Aims Make more accessible? Improve support Expand range of subjects supported Involve more institutions Improve workflows for creating repository