Making learning with ARTIST ROOMS massive

This strand of research will investigate what happens when ARTIST ROOMS engage with one of the most interesting and large-scale developments current in online education - the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course).

Professor Siân Bayne, School of Education, University of Edinburgh

MOOCs are free online courses delivered from prestigious universities, which generally achieve enrolment figures of several thousands. While Edinburgh University already offers MOOC courses, as yet there are currently none available in visual arts-related subjects, and no instances of museums or galleries yet offering a MOOC.

This project therefore offers chance for ARTIST ROOMS to do important early work in establishing the impact of MOOCs on gallery learning.

The project will work on establishing two aspects of learning with MOOCs. Firstly it will design and run an ARTIST ROOMS MOOC, and be taught in partnership between the School of Education, Edinburgh College of Art, Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland.

It will draw in expertise from online educators (School of Education), scholars in the visual arts (ECA) and, resources permitting, expert curators (partnership museums and gallery partners). Secondly, the project will conduct research with the aim of establishing how massive online engagement in this form can contribute to the impact and scale of outreach for ARTIST ROOMS in particular, and for the cultural sector generally.