Do You Teach With Objects? – Maximise The Learning Potential Of The Macquarie Collection

What does a Dhoeri headdress, an Attic Black figure kylix and an Egyptian mummy have in common? They are all objects from museum collections here at Macquarie University.

Objects have always been closely associated with knowledge. The ancestors of the modern museum, the “cabinets of curiosity” were constructs for the elite to proclaim their connection to knowledge of the world. It is therefore natural for a knowledge-based organisation, such as a university, to collect objects and specimens. It is a scholarly tradition that stretches back to the Renaissance and probably much further.

A new Strategic Learning and Teaching Project at Macquarie aims to unlock the teaching potential of our museums and collections across campus.

While many people already use objects in their teaching, we believe there is great potential for developing an object-based learning community of practice at Macquarie (MQ OBLCoP) and further extending our museum collections into the curriculum.

A team of academic and professional staff are looking at developing tools that help unit convenors identify material from our museum collections of value in curriculum design. The project is just getting underway now!

We seek the participation of at least 1-2 units per faculty

to work with us to develop object based learning (OBL) solutions using sources from the two pilot collections (Australian History Museum and Museum of Ancient Cultures). The aim is to embed sources into the units as a value-add in the form of support for assessment tasks, lecture or tutorial material, and/or as a way of closing the gap between the internal and external student experience.

So if you are a learning designer/ educator/ unit convenor who already uses objects as part of your teaching, or if you are interested in learning how to unleash the power of objects in your teaching practice, or if you are simply curious as to what is in our collections, get in touch with the project team to find out more.

Check out the project flyer for more info or check out the Collection Resource Mapping L&T Project launch presentation.

OBLCoP Project contacts:

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