Open Universiteit trains teachers

A group of ckv/drawing teachers of secondary schools in Limburg will soon make a journey to Venice as part of a professionalisation programme developed by the Open Universiteit Nederland.

The foundation LVO, the organisation these schools form part of, developed the programme in collaboration with the Faculty of Cultural Sciences and the Centre for Learning Sciences and Technologies (CELSTEC) of the Open Universiteit.

Practicals and games
The trip to Venice forms part of a larger programme for art historians. In the course of this programme they experience new educational methods as virtual practicals and serious games. As preparation they were initiated in the Practical ‘Art’ of the Open Universiteit Nederland and ‘played’ the Museum Game.

Interactive travellers' journal
An important component of the programme is the travellers' journal the teachers are going to make. This journal will have the form of an interactive programme, which will make use of the functionalities of Emergo. This programme allows ‘travellers’ to make their own virtual journey to Venice and pick their own route through the collected multimedia materials. In the weeks before leaving for Italy, the teachers design and write scenario’s for this game and learn about operating video devices and editing techniques. During the trip to Venice they collect the images (foto and film) and the information they need for the journal (the game). The end result of the professionalisation programme is a virtual travellers’ journal in the form of a serious game that the teachers can present to their own pupils.

Collaboration
The Open Universiteit Nederland designed a pilot for the the professionalisation programme in collaboration with Limburg Voorgezet Onderwijs (LVO) for teachers of the department cultural and artistic education, drawing and art history. Although the prime objective of the programme is to professionalise the expertise of the teachers in the content field – by offering an academic environment - they experience and develop during the programme innovative educational methods as virtual practicals and interactive games. The faculty of Cultural Sciences provides the expertise as to content, CELSTEC provides the expertise in the field of educational technology, namely the handling of video devices and working with Emergo. Emergo is a method and a toolkit for developing and producing multimedia cases to learn complex competencies.