The REVISIT project: legacy heritage visualisations and educational potential

The REVISIT project explored how immersive 3D models generated in heritage and research contexts can be used to deliver innovative teaching and learning materials for use in schools. Digital technologies play an integral part in educational strategies and methodologies, with a range of tools being used to support students and teachers in their everyday lessons. However, despite the wealth of research on digital technology use within schools, few studies have so far looked at the teaching and learning potential of pre-existing immersive 3D models, in particular the re-use of the large number of digital heritage datasets. The REVISIT project is a one year collaboration between the Glasgow School of Art and the University of Hull. It was funded as part of a special 10 year anniversary ‘follow on’ funding call from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Through a comparative case study of three primary and secondary schools in the UK, this paper investigates how a legacy 3D model of the 1938 British Empire Exhibition and its associated digital archive was used by teachers and students to support teaching and learning activities across different subject areas. In particular, the project evaluated the potential and impact of this model of access in formal educational settings and highlights a number of salient issues and challenges that emerged. These include, amongst others: the drivers for student engagement; the desire for creative engagement with the 3D and archive data; co-creation of learning materials; modes of learning; and the wider pressures of teacher time, curriculum regimes, and technical issues. In line with the conference themes, this paper considers the range of actors and factors that underpin the outcomes and sustainability of the use of legacy 3D datasets in education and concludes with some suggestions for the future use of these models in this context. Aims The 1938 British Empire Exhibition was an architecturally significant event, incorporating over 100 buildings and attracting over 12.5million people to Bellahouston Park, Glasgow over its six month run. Funded by the AHRC, in 2005, Glasgow School of Art’s School of Simulation and Visualisation (formerly Digital Design Studio) constructed a thoroughly researched and highly accurate 3D digital model of the Exhibition as well as a digital, multimedia archive content relating to the Exhibition, its visitors and its international impact. The primary aim of REVISIT was to attempt to transform these research focussed digital assets into innovative learning tools targeted at school learners and covering multiple aspects of the curriculum; to make these learning tools as widely accessible as possible; and to increase our understanding of what value, if any, such assets have for teachers and learners through a pilot study. Research context Virtual environments and 3D models have been used across various disciplines and levels of education since the 1990s. Potential learning benefits in both primary and secondary education include opportunities for rich learner engagement; the possibility to explore, manipulate and construct virtual objects; creative interactions where active participation leads to digital forms of cultural production and user-led innovation and co-production. One 2011 review reported that virtual 3D models and environments are predominantly used in the subject areas of science and mathematics, with a smaller number in the social sciences. There are now several examples in the literature that highlight the pedagogical potential of such technologies across a range of subjects including ecology; foreign language learning; maths; science, epidemiology, and creative writing. As learning in virtual 3D models and environments gains momentum there arises an array of challenges and barriers that need to be considered. Despite the plethora of studies that have explored the pedagogical opportunities of specially created tools, very few research studies have looked at the re-use of virtual 3D models originally designed for other purposes (such as research), how well they fit within educational settings. This is particularly relevant for those producing high-quality 3D datasets from original research and who wish to maximise the learning potential and impact from their work – an ongoing challenge across the cultural heritage domain. Challenges include the availability and cost of robust hardware and internet connectivity; the pedagogical skills needed for creating relevant and meaningful tasks in virtual worlds and the time to plan and design these tasks; usability and fit within existing classroom procedures. Teachers are reported to perceive digital 3D as a means of enriching existing practice rather than transforming it and innovative practices are limited by the current focus on standards and individual performance. Similarly, teaching practice is highly dependent on confidence with both subject-specific and cross-curricular themes as well as a teacher’s willingness to work outside the ‘curricular comfort zone’. Results REVISIT collaborated with three different schools to define appropriate, curriculum-driven themes around which to base immersive, interactive ‘virtual tours’ of the 3D model, which incorporate both learning materials and teaching and learning activities. It became quickly evident that, where there was engagement from teachers and students, there was also a desire to be the producers (rather than passive consumers) of content using both the 3D immersive model, its archive of related material, and additional material created by the students. This resulted in a collection of 3D narratives, created by both the project team and the children themselves, exploring different subjects via different aspects of the Exhibition. Approaches varied within and across age groups and subject interests. Examples include investigations of a very specific subject (e.g. coal) using just one building within the Empire Exhibition model; linking up a series of buildings on a particular subject (e.g. pavilions from Commonwealth countries); using numerical data from vintage radio broadcasts in maths exercises; and adding original photographs comparing how Bellahouston Park looked then and how it looks now. As the project encouraged creative responses to the 3D model, research materials, and delivery technology, REVISIT’s results include a reflection on this creative, non-didactic mode of engaging young learners with 3D research data and the effects of the creative responses created by the students themselves. The REVISIT team used ethnographic approaches including interviews and participant observation to explore engagement, enjoyment, and specific curricular learning outcomes and produce a robust evaluation of the use and impact of this mode of learning. In this paper we will also highlight a number of policy, technical and engagement issues that arose during the research process. Through reflecting on both the positive outcomes and the barriers to educational re-use of legacy datasets, expected and unexpected, we will suggest approaches to 3D dataset creation that will go some way to increasing their utility, and therefore re-use, in educational contexts.