As university museums are in lockdown or face strict social distancing measures, how has this affected access to and learning with collections? What opportunities does digital object-based learning bring and how are university museums adapting to the new circumstances?

Join us for a long coffee break with the Universeum network on the 24th of June to share our experiences of managing university collections and learning in the COVID-19 crisis.

The roundtable will bring some current examples of collections-based learning, alongside the challenges, hopes and concerns to resume museum work after the pandemic, addressing the following questions:

What approaches to collections-based learning and student engagement were being used prior to Covid-19 pandemic?
What challenges are we facing in moving collections-based learning online?
What strategies have been devised to address these challenges, successful or otherwise?
What elements of your new working environment will you keep post COVID?

There will be 6 speakers from various UK institutions sharing their experience and expertise:

Kate Arnold-Forster, Museum of English Rural Life
Sam Beath, Manchester Museum
Amanda Ford-Spora, UCL Institute of Archaeology
Zoe Hendon, Middlesex University
Thomas Kador, UCL Culture
Judy Willcocks, University of the Arts

Following their presentations there will be time for Q&A.

The meeting will be moderated by the organisers of the Universeum Student Engagement Working Group, Ana Baeza Ruiz (Middlesex University, UK) and Annelies Van de Ven (Universite Catholique de Louvain, Belgium).

Collections-based learning during COVID-19