The Secret Lives of Digital Museum Resources and Collections: Teaching Practice and Interactions with the Smithsonian's Learning Lab

合作项目“博物馆的秘密生活”旨在进一步了解博物馆数字学习平台如何使教育从业者在实践中激活数字化博物馆物品的教学潜力。该研究将通过对教育工作者使用学习实验室的深入案例研究来解决这一关键问题。学习实验室是一个数字平台，可以访问史密森尼博物馆的数百万资源，该网站还提供了一个在线学习资源库，供用户在主要研究中心、国家动物园和其他资源上使用，用户可以利用这些资源创建具有广泛互动功能（如测验、注释和分类活动）的学习资源。该平台在其范围，内容，定制工具，专业发展的持续促进，作为明确设计用于学习的平台的持续发展以及作为在使用时完全免费的开放式教育资源的地位方面是独一无二的。本项目旨在了解学习实验室的设计和功能在特定环境下教育工作者的体验，以及对博物馆和学校数字平台开发和教学实践的潜在影响。研究将探索学习过程，结果和平台教育者用户随着时间的推移促进学生参与的类型，以及平台，博物馆的教育实践和教师的方法。通过更好地了解该平台在实践中的使用经验，研究结果将有助于该网站及其用户潜在支持机制的持续发展。将采用混合方法;主要重点将是定性方法，定量分析用于调查与博物馆资源和藏品使用相关的趋势。研究方法将包括学习实验室数据的统计分析，对使用学习实验室作为实践一部分的教育工作者进行在线调查，与史密森尼工作人员进行焦点小组/访谈，以及与使用该平台的教师进行深入的定性研究。深入的定性研究旨在更好地了解教师如何将平台的独特功能作为其实践的一部分，调查博物馆物品和收藏品如何被翻译和解释用于教育用途。通过这些方法，研究将探索使用博物馆数字学习平台进行基于对象和收藏品的学习的独特能力和局限性，并将反思如何通过了解这些不断发展的观点来为博物馆实践和数字平台设计提供信息。

The collaborative project 'The Secret Lives of Museums' aims to further understand how museum digital learning platforms enable educational practitioners to activate the pedagogical potential of digitised museum objects in their practice.The research will address this key question through an in-depth case study of educators' uses of the Learning Lab, a digital platform providing access to millions of resources from the Smithsonian's museums, major research centres, the National Zoo and other sources, with which users can create learning collections with a wide range of interactive features (such as quizzes, annotations and sorting activities). The platform is unique in its scope, content, tools for customisation, ongoing facilitation of professional development, continuing evolution as a platform explicitly designed for learning and status as an open educational resource which is completely free at the point of use. This project aims to develop understanding of how the Learning Lab's design and features are experienced by educators in particular contexts and the potential implications for digital platform development and pedagogical practices in museums and schools.The research will explore learning processes, outcomes and types of student engagement facilitated by the platform's educator-users over time and the complex impacts between the platform, museum educational practices and teachers' approaches. Through better understanding experiences of the platform's use in practice, the findings will contribute to the ongoing development of both the site and potential support mechanisms for its users.A mixed methods approach will be adopted; the main emphasis will be on qualitative methods, with quantitative analysis used to investigate trends relating to the use of museum resources and collections. Research methods will include statistical analysis of Learning Lab data, an online survey for educators who have used the Learning Lab as part of their practice, focus groups/interviews with Smithsonian staff, and in-depth qualitative research with teachers using the platform. The in-depth qualitative research will aim to better understand how teachers are using the unique features of the platform as part of their practice, investigating how museum objects and collections are translated and interpreted for educational use.Through these approaches, the research will explore the unique capacities and limitations associated with object- and collections-based learning using museum digital learning platforms, and will reflect on how museum practices and digital platform design can be informed by awareness of these evolving perspectives.