Didarchtik - Learning Partnership 2010-2012
EXARC and several of its members applied for a Grundtvig Learning Partnership in 2010. Grundtvig was part of the European Union’s LifeLong Learning Programme (LLLP), which also included initiatives such as Leonardo and Erasmus. The Grundtvig programme focused on adult education and, in our case, involved various museums, open-air museums, universities, and secondary schools.
We worked together with our partners from across Europe to share practices, discuss challenges, and compare solutions for our specific topics. Our project clearly focused on non-formal learning in various aspects.
During the application process, two projects were formed: Didarchtik and Zeitgeist.
All applicants were EXARC members, involved in interpretation and education. We also included universities, schools, and other organizations working in this field, both within our network and in this Grundtvig Learning Partnership.
Our type of education and interpretation heavily emphasizes practical experience—the objects and buildings we use are reconstructions; three-dimensional witnesses of local and national heritage that are part of our shared European culture. Our type of museums is accessible, which allows us to reach all layers of society.
A special tool we use in our education is based on experimental archaeology: demonstrating ancient crafts and allowing people to try them themselves by engaging them very directly. In this way, history reaches all the senses—the ideal starting point for informal learning. Our method relies on staff telling the stories of our objects, more than on written panels or machines. This is a very labor-intensive approach but is highly valued and provides good quality.
Several EXARC partners already had experience with EU cooperation; for example, we had a Culture 2000 project (Delphi, House of Questions), which focused on what people wanted to know when visiting our museums. From our long-running visitor surveys, we know that (1) we have a higher percentage of returning visitors (25–30%) and (2) people generally spend more time in our museums than in other types of museums (2–3 hours). These two challenges offer opportunities that have so far been hardly utilized. Repeat visitors have specific requirements that we need to investigate. This allows us to develop suitable formats before, during, and after their visit for interpretive activities involving staff and media. For example, we are considering the use of innovative cross-media approaches.
Our concrete objectives
We characterized our adult visitors and their educational needs and interests. Understand what visitors expect before arrival, what we want them to learn, and whether this results in a successful visit.
We analyzed the use and potential of experimental archaeology and live interpretation.
We developed an approach to serve repeat visits.
We defined a solid offering for ‘pre-visit’ and ‘post-visit’ for our audience (information and knowledge).
We created a long-term network around lifelong learning in archaeological open-air museums.
Results were
An online forum for the members of Zeitgeist.
An online survey system for visitors, created, used, and evaluated.
A glossary of commonly used terms for archaeological open-air museums in multiple languages.
A handbook/reader on the application of new media in archaeological open-air museums, ancient crafts, and reaching and educating adult audiences.
A handbook/reader on storytelling and didactic methods for adults applied in archaeological open-air museums.
There were several workshops:
09/2010, Netherlands: a working meeting to get things right.
01/2011, Catalonia: Workshop for craftsmen. A session on new media and reaching/educating the public, given by external experts. Defining relevant topics for working with adults, whose general terms needed translation into our languages.
07/2011, Norway: lesson on storytelling for guides, didactic methods for adults. Agreement on how visitor analyses should be conducted and how the results should be used in updating our adult education methods. Discussion on adult education from the perspective of our visitors, guides, and non-visitors.
10/2011, Netherlands: Mid-project evaluation: is everything on schedule? How about the results? International heritage fair, including live history demonstration, how to convey information: authenticity, teacher and actor in one.
02/2012, Germany: follow-up session on new media, ancient crafts, and reaching and educating the public. Partner feedback, follow-up on storytelling. Project evaluation: is everything on schedule? How about the results? Important: joint meeting with the EXARC network.
07/2012, Netherlands: final meeting, end evaluation. Craftsmen’s workshop: craft, demonstration, and interpretation.
Project Link
https://exarc.net/sites/default/files/didarchtik-manual-2010-2012-final-web_0.pdf
https://dev.exarc.net/glossary
https://dev.exarc.net/sites/default/files/motivationmanual_1.pdf