Preparation

Rationale

When devising the project Eleanor Markland was hopeful that it might be possible to increase engagement of pupils through using the technology, and to explore whether the response to role play would be improved when delivered via videoconference. All the educators working on the project agreed that it is much harder to get secondary groups to suspend their disbelief when dealing with a costumed re-enactor, especially if the session happening was in school, than it is with primary. Eleanor hoped that since the pupils would be receiving the role-play via a screen this would make them more inclined to suspend their disbelief as they do regularly when watching television and film. Click here for more

The aim was make the sessions as interactive as possible, drawing on the strengths of museum learning while exploiting the possibilities of the technology. The sessions have museum collections at their foundation, using objects, documentary and photographic evidence. The approach includes discussion, questioning, hypothesis and role play.

Content

The project developed content for two themes, the straw plaiting industry and the Home Front in WWII. These themes were selected in consultation with our partner schools and fitted into units taught in Y9.  Both 19th century industrial development and WWII are significant KS3 history topics but they are also significant in the history of Luton and well represented in the Museums Luton's collections. We had also previously worked with Icknield High School to develop resources for teaching the straw hat industry as part of their study of industrialisation through the Learning Links programme.

That previous work with Icknield and Terry Sayers meant that they were an obvious choice to approach for as a partner. The connection with Biddenham grew from the fact that Joe Wilkinson was a member of our Learning Partners teacher consultation group. Initial discussion and meetings confirmed the schools’ interest.

Preparing the students

The schools with which we worked were at very different levels of experience with videoconferencing. Icknield High School has a videoconference technician on the staff and a videoconference room, however Biddenham Upper School’s entry point perhaps better reflects the position of most schools. They had the equipment but were only beginning to experiment with it.

Prior to the first sessions with Icknield all of Y9 had familiarisation session with Jo Tulla, the school’s Videoconference Co-ordinator. The aim of this was to get them confident and comfortable with the technology and the etiquette a conference requires.

Knowing Icknield to be unusual in having this level of resourcing and experience in videoconferencing we created briefing notes for both teachers and pupils to support the WWII session that we were planning to deliver to Biddenham Upper School to enable teachers to build the VC session into their teaching of the topic.

Finding and preparing an appropriate space in the museum

At the Wardown Park Museum the education room, where the conferences were to take place, had to be carpeted to improve the acoustics. Within the room we created two sets, a plain blue background and table for Eleanor and an appropriate backdrop of the re-enactor.

Security

The education room is a multifuctional space often open to the public, as is common in most museums, therefore the security of the equipment was an issue. We wanted to avoid having to set up the equipment afresh each time to minimise the risk of damage but also because of a lack of suitable storage space back of house. The problem was solved by our exhibition design team who designed and built a stand for the equipment that fitted into an alcove in the room. It was then possible to wheel out the stand and all the set uprequired was to plug in the network and mains cable.

Equipment

We took advice and chose a Polycom VSX6000, which has a pan/tilt/zoom camera and the facility to create preset shots.  We used the preset facilty to move the camera from one shot to another during the conference, which worked well and helped to create a clear difference between the present day – Eleanor – and the re-enactor.

For more information about equipment visit www.dmec.org.uk .