About the Conference
How can museums and universities work together purposefully to enhance the learning of higher education students?
Date: Thursday 1st July 2010
Time: 9.30am - 5pm (evening dinner also available)
Venue: Sackler Centre for Arts Education, V&A, Cromwell Road, London
Recent thinking by the UK government on the delivery of cultural policy and strategy has acknowledged the vital role that museums occupy in supporting and enhancing cultural and educational provision both regionally and nationally (DCMS 2008). In this context, work with schools and community groups has received particular attention (Anderson 2004, Berry 1998, Hooper-Greenhill 1994) yet the enormous potential of museums working with HE remains under-explored, under-researched and the needs of higher education students and citizen scholars are often overlooked by museums.
Research conducted by the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning through Design (CETLD) has highlighted the significant potential and importance of museum-university collaborations and the need to identify successful practices and also barriers that prevent institutions from working together more effectively. With limited public funding available for interdisciplinary educational research, CETLD has made the case for a national review of the opportunities that museum-university partnerships offer and how the needs of higher education students and adult learners can better be supported in museums.
The conference aims to provide a forum for debate surrounding the policy implications of this work and a platform for discussion of issues and ideas that are relevant to the museum and higher education sectors. It will bring together policy makers, curators, educators, academics, students and leading professionals from the educational, creative and cultural sectors.
A show of work by students from the University of Brighton and Royal College of Art, created in response to the V&A and its collections will be exhibited at the conference.
Themes
- Museums and university partnerships - opportunities and barriers
- The role of museums in supporting HE student learning
- The educational philosophies and theories that underpin learning and research in museums and HE
Museums and university partnerships - opportunities and barriers
For museums and universities to work together effectively, a series of perceived and actual barriers that inhibit partnership working must be addressed - for example differing approaches to learning, scholarship and research. What opportunities do such partnerships provide? How can successful approaches be identified? Who benefits and how can wider support for collaboration be facilitated?
The role of museums in supporting HE student learning
Museums are increasingly recognised as educational providers and are required to divide and spread their efforts between the needs and demands of different audiences. Can we or should we expect museums to be all things to all people? Should they provide a specialist service for the needs of HE audiences? What form might this take? How can museums better engage with Higher Education and draw on their knowledge and expertise?
The educational philosophies and theories that underpin learning and research in museums and HE
What educational philosophies and learning theories underpin the learning experience of HE students in museums?
Networking Event
Date: Friday 2nd July 2010
Time: 10am - 1pm (including refreshments)
Venue: Main Lecture Theatre, V&A, Cromwell Road, London
Are you a museum professional who wants to know more about HE? Or a HE professional that wants to work with museums? Following the ‘Learning at the Interface’ conference, a networking event for delegates, speakers and other staff across the HE and museums sectors will be held in the V&A’s main lecture theatre. The aim of the event is to follow up ideas from the previous day, stimulate new projects and wider collaborations for those interested in working with colleagues in the museum and HE sectors.
Please confirm your attendance at the networking event when signing up for the conference. We will only be running this event if there is enough interest to do so.