Making Together
IOE UCL PGCE Art & Design students collaboration with the Royal Society of Sculptors Dora House 'Opening Doors' project.
Yesterday I organised a day for a small group of PGCE A&D students to explore the creative potential of digital learning, build a lesson / resource and to contribute to the learning resource at the Royal Society of Sculptors.
Over the past few months the Royal Society of Sculptors (RSS) has worked with a group of KS5 students from St. Charles Catholic Sixth Form College to create a 360° Virtual Tour of Dora House, the home of the RSS. The young people explored the role and importance of cultural institutions and their heritage, learned how to handle and research archival material, engaged in creative arts-based workshops and developed new technical skills including the operation of 360° cameras and the use of virtual tour software. The 360° tour is now live on the RSS website, enabling online visitors to discover the history and heritage of the unique building and uncover the stories of the artists and creatives who have lived and worked there over the years.
The PGCE student teacher brief:
For the next phase of the project, the RSS offered a small group of IOE PGCE students the opportunity to develop a learning resource for educators to use alongside the 360° tour in their teaching. School trips and excursions aren’t always possible, due to time and budget constraints, accessibility needs or unprecedented situations such as the recent pandemic. RSS were therefore looking for imaginative ways that this sort of virtual experience could be used to support the teaching of art & design.
How will the PGCE students benefit…?
Develop new digital skills in virtual reality software and creating 360° learning experiences, which are becoming increasingly important in the way we work and teach;
Consider new ways to integrate heritage and history into the practice and teaching of art and design;
Explore the artform of sculpture and its many possibilities, with a focus on the ‘Making Together’ exhibition and neurodiversity in art;
Gain professional experience developing a resource for online publication on behalf of a prestigious arts organisation;
Support the Royal Society of Sculptors to widen participation and remove barriers to access by producing content for those unable to visit the galleries in person.
We had a really interesting opportunity to consider 'Making Together' as a resource; sculpture in the secondary classroom; virtual reality in the classroom; neurodiversity in the classroom; and how to develop resources collaboratively. I look forward to seeing the finished plans and ideas which will be shared at the Educators’ Social on Wednesday 22nd November, 6pm – 8pm at the RSS. This will be a chance for the PGCE students to network and chat with other educators over a drink, share their experiences working with virtual reality and present their resources to the group.
