The impacts of an immersive learning programme at Imperial War Museum
The impacts of an immersive learning programme at Imperial War Museum
By
Morris Hargreaves McIntyre
The study reviewed the immersive and experiential learning programme for young people – Their Past Your Future (TPYF). It evaluated how direct engagement with people, places and objects impacted on a personal and societal level, and how it enhanced knowledge for young people and educational institutions. It also explored impacts on the Imperial War Museum itself.
Evaluation of the first phase, TPYF1, illustrated the strength of the immersive and experiential learning approach as a way of engaging young people and educators directly with the people, places and objects they are learning about in a way that enhances what is possible in a classroom, formal learning or museum context. The Immersive Learning Programme therefore focussed on immersive learning through the resources and processes in the following model.
A new component of the learning approach in the Immersive Learning Programme was the use of Radiowaves, a safe online social networking site for schools and youth organisations. Radiowaves involved young people recording their experiences in real time, via personal blogs and by making videos and podcasts to post on the site. The purpose of Radiowaves was to enhance the site activities and engagement on the visits, to explore the use of social networking and multimedia technology as an effective learning tool, to provide a more lasting record of the visits and to increase direct and indirect beneficiaries of the programme.
