Five ways object-based learning can support teaching in the humanities

by Selena Daly (SELCS) 

The first meeting of the Creative Teaching in the Humanities Network got off to a great start in October 2023 with a session on Object-Based Learning (OBL). Dr Thomas Kador (BASc) led all the participants in a fun and enlightening ice-breaker session that was, literally, hands on! Each table had a black box with holes in the sides placed in front of them and we were invited to feel the object inside, to draw it and to describe it. I won’t ruin the exercise for future participants but the objects ranged from the ancient to the modern, from the natural to the mechanical.

1. Consolidating learning through creating a memorable experience 

As Thomas then explained to us, sight is vastly overplayed in teaching and education. Our sense of touch is generally forgotten and yet our fingertips are powerful analytical tools. As one participant commented, an object-handling session is a ‘low stakes way of engaging students,’ while others remarked on how a memorable experience of this kind can stay with them longer, thus consolidating learning.

2. Moving students into non-formal learning spaces

Dr Andrea Fredericksen, Curator of the UCL Art Museum, then highlighted that in her line of work you can’t touch the artworks but explained that working up close with artworks can be a transformative experience for students. She highlighted how OBL can facilitate student wellbeing by getting students into ‘non-formal learning spaces,’ which can help overcome classroom anxiety and combat stress.

3. Allowing students who are less comfortable with traditional academic essays to shine 

Next, a series of colleagues shared insights and examples of how they use OBL in their teaching practice, beginning with Dr Kirsty Sinclair Dootson from SELCS. For a module on film materiality, she has put together her own personal teaching collection of film negatives, which is often the first time students have ever encountered such objects. She encourages them to think about issues such as size, flammability and even scent, asking them what they can learn about film without watching a movie. One of her big takeaways was how the assessment based on this film stock flipped the hierarchy in the room, with those who had performed less well on a traditional academic essay excelling at this task.

4. Helping educators teach difficult histories and topics 

Dr Lucia Rinaldi, also from SELCS, highlighted her use of the UCL Galton Collection in teaching a summer school module entitled ‘The Dark Side of London,’ using objects related to the development of forensic science, fingerprinting and aspects of eugenics. She emphasised how OBL can be a powerful tool in helping educators teach difficult histories and topics, by offering an alternative access point to controversial subjects.

5. Building student confidence through introducing real-world professional situations 

Lastly, Dr Anna Maguire (History) and Jo Baines (UCL Special Collections) presented their integration of OBL into the MA in Public History. They both highlighted the importance of sustainable partnerships between academics and UCL collections and archives. Indeed, the MA in Public History programme was approved to be in collaboration with Special Collections, which, in turn, influenced how the programme was designed. One activity asks students to design a lesson plan using objects in a box they are given, with tutors then intervening with last-minute alterations to the brief, exactly as happens in a real-world professional situation. According to Anna, it was a scenario that helped build students’ confidence and made them more confident in engaging with other creative outputs.

Final reflections: what about digital objects?

Aside from showcasing the exciting work being done in the area of OBL across UCL and providing attendees inspiration for how to embed OBL into their own modules, this session also raised some interesting questions. One of the most pressing was how OBL interacts with the digital world. Kirsty also asks her students to engage with films as digital files, asking what you cannot learn from a film that has been digitised and encouraging them to reflect on the consequences of the move from print to digital.

A broader reflection raised several times was whether we should include digital objects in definitions of OBL. Out of necessity, during the Covid lockdowns work, that was previously in person and hands-on was transferred online which posed some interesting questions for the group such as ‘can digital objects be included in definitions of OBL?’ and ‘what is gained and what is lost when we encounter objects only in digital form?’. Perhaps these are questions that can be tackled at a future meeting of the Creative Teaching in the Humanities Network.

The Creative Teaching in the Humanities Network is led by Dr Selena Daly (SELCS). If you have any queries or suggestions for future events and/or speakers, please do get in touch at selena.daly@ucl.ac.uk.