Teaching with Collections during Covid-19
By Tannis Davidson, on 12 December 2020
Each year, UCL’s museums and collections are used in teaching practicals by university students on a wide range of courses including, but not limited to, archaeology, geography, history of art, political science and zoology. The use of collections have been at the heart of teaching at UCL since 1827 and Term 1 2020/2021 was no exception.
In the months leading up to the beginning of term in September, museum staff worked with academic partners to develop digital teaching resources for online teaching (images of objects, pre-recorded lectures and virtual tours of the museums). Reoccupation and operations groups planned how to reopen the museums as covid-secure socially distanced teaching spaces. Curators developed face-to-face teaching options with module leaders and worked with departmental administrators to organise timetables for remote students as well as those planning to be on campus.
Overall, it has been a huge collaborative effort throughout the university to support students in this extraordinary year. UCL Culture museums and collections (Grant Museum of Zoology, Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, Art Museum, Pathology Museum and Science Collections) all contributed towards the UCL-wide effort to continue to provide a rewarding learning experience despite the exceptionally difficult circumstances. While there have been plenty of challenges, the response has been overwhelmingly positive and there is much to celebrate.
While most teaching moved online, many modules with practical learning objectives were delivered through blended teaching – a mix of online tutorials and face-to-face labs or object-based sessions. UCL Culture staff delivered 51 face-to-face teaching practicals in the museums and Object-Based Learning Lab and also developed digital content (live and pre-recorded lectures and digital images of objects) for 42 online tutorials. In total, there have been over 2700 student uses of the museum collections in Term 1 teaching modules.
There are also several ongoing virtual student placements ‘based’ in the museums and a 10-month Institute of Archaeology conservation placement student working on site with UCL Culture conservators and the museum collections. Student research visits have also continued throughout the term with students accessing the collections both remotely and on campus.
There have been many lessons learned, adaptive responses and also innovations borne from the current situation. Smaller socially distanced group sizes in museum teaching spaces have allowed for more intimate, focussed experiences during face-to-face practicals. Likewise, smaller online group chats and tutorials have provided the opportunity for students to interact with their classmates and contribute to discussions whether they are on campus, self-isolating or in a different country. Remote students taking Biosciences Vertebrate Life and Evolution module were sent a 3D printed mystery vertebrate skull in the post so that they would have a similar specimen-based identification exercise as the London-based students.
At the cusp of a new year, new term and new challenges, we look forward to developing further opportunities to enrich our students’ learning experience and academic studies. We have been tremendously fortunate to have had the phenomenal support of the wider UCL community which has provided a safe and supportive environment and trusted us to welcome students back into the museums. Thank you!
Tannis Davidson is the Curator of the Grant Museum of Zoology, UCL
3 Responses to “Teaching with Collections during Covid-19”
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Alireza Mani wrote on 26 March 2021:
The curators of the Pathology Collection have always provided an excellent environment for learning at Royal Free Campus. Before the pandemic they supported our students beyond what was expected from them and during COVID-19 restrictions, they continued their support by providing very high-quality images from the specimens as well as allowing occasional visits of teaching staff for making teaching materials. The introductory video by Hannah Cornish and the team was excellent and has encouraged many of our students to make plans for visiting the Pathology Collection in future. In the past we had borrowed specimens form the Pathology Collection to run various workshops and have also been taken to visit the Francis Galton’s collection. Those moments are remembered well by our students and graduated. I know that the team at the Pathology Collection have done their best to support us during the pandemic. They have always been in touch and created a Teams page for sharing pictures and videos. On behalf of the teaching team at Division of Medicine, I’d like to thank the team and in particular Subhadra Das and Hannah Cornish for giving cultural flavour to our teaching. We hope that our collaboration continues in future.
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Alireza Mani wrote on 26 March 2021:
The curators of the Pathology Collection have always provided an excellent environment for learning at Royal Free Campus. Before the pandemic they supported our students beyond what was expected from them and during COVID-19 restrictions, they continued their support by providing very high-quality images from the specimens as well as allowing occasional visits of teaching staff for making teaching materials. The introductory video by Hannah Cornish and the team was excellent and has encouraged many of our students to make plans for visiting the Pathology Collection in future. In the past we had borrowed specimens form the Pathology Collection to run various workshops and have also been given the unique opportunity to visit the Francis Galton’s collection. Those moments are remembered well by our students and graduates. I know that the team at the Pathology Collection have done their best to support us during the pandemic. They have always been in touch and created a useful Teams page for sharing pictures and videos. On behalf of the teaching team at Division of Medicine, I’d like to thank the curators and particularly Subhadra Das and Hannah Cornish for giving cultural flavour to our teaching. We hope that our collaboration continues in future.
Anna and her team have been incredibly supportive over the last academic year during the pandemic: They gave my students and me the opportunity for object-based-learning despite the difficulties the COVID-regulations threw their way. For the students this was particularly important as most of their teaching had been online leading one student to say that ‘handling a 2000-year old Egyptian object made his journey from China to London worthwile’, despite being caught in a small student room for most of the pandemic. Anna has been absolutely brilliant in providing us with teaching material and shared here ideas very effectively – thank you so much!