Now this one is a very interesting question. When I worked at the Royal College of Surgeons, I set up a system involving the histopathologist who worked bottling specimens in the Museum and Archives, to develop high fidelity medical models. Through creating a 'functional modelling unit' (i.e. not a formally defined structure, but one that drew upon my expertise in innovation in education, the museum and curator resources, access to the College Tutor for neurosurgery, and business development functions), we were able to advance the work in the medical modelling of head injury. This is a remarkable step forward in surgical education, where my role was organisationally located, and was possible only because of the technical expertise of the people in the museum that dealt with body parts and their fixing day-in, day-out. For this instance, as I think interactive museum education like that at Questacon in Australia (different, but 'haptic and kinaesthetic' might be the word?) we were able to 'use the past, to create the future', using what is traditionally considered the department of memories rather than of the next generation (as I think it was widely considered). I'd be very interested in looking at authoring some stuff with people working specifically within the field of museums and curation on this, from the perspective of knowledge transfer, systemic, pedagogic and technological innovation, and really driving forward the absolutely critical and completely under-estimated/used role of museums in, certainly, medicine, but also beyond.

Hi Johnathon,

What a fantastic project! The key element of new innovative work in university contexts seems to be the convergence of specialised discipline-specific technical knowledge with museum expertise. Universities should be the breeding ground for new experimental museological practice, and this would seem a great example of a project that has made a considerable pedagogic difference. I'm also interested in the application of haptics in pedagogy and undertook some initial research into the retention of didactic information among people exposed to original objects verses digital surrogates. The results were published here.

http://www.researchgate.net/publication/255483363_University_collections_and_object-based_pedagogies

It is an area I think requires substantial research attention. I’m aware of some work stemming from University College London’s museum group some years ago, but not much else!

Your project certainly needs a write up. Was there any general articles published about the work?

Article University Collections and Object-Based Pedagogies

Would be good to talk, Andrew - message me for a meet up, if you are interested... there is a series of three papers, on the systemic, pedagogic and technological innovation that comprised the project due to be published in the Journal of Pedagogic Excellence. There is furthermore future work I am currently negotiating with the Royal Veterinary College into laboratory development of this work to expand laterally into that field.

More broadly, the development of a 'new breed' of 'artifactual learning' as part of the blended learning mix is something that I am developing. Current collaborators who have been drawn to this come in from such fields as m- and v-learning, 3D printing and architecture and holography. So yes very, very interesting convergence, but now you mention it - in spite of it's origins in the museums and archives, it seems to be already losing those roots. That definitely needs revisiting, so I'm very glad this conversation happened. There is a definite risk that the past might become history!

Your link is incredibly interesting, particularly given future directions in this work. Although artifactual learning need to be further defined, and my enthusiasm for the engagement of museums and curation, it is certainly the case that museums what flows from them cannot be constrained to looking at jelly-filled jars behind glass, and we need to be reinvigorate the sensations and perceptions of other times in the present. Questacon, from my VERY limited experience of next-generation museums seems to be offering something of the kind I/we are thinking, but I'd be really, really keen to see (and hear, and feel, and smell, and touch, and experience) what museums are doing as regards innovation.

Any suggestions?

You should contact AAMG-L, which is the is the listserv of the Association of Academic Museums & Galleries. The members of the list are very active and always keen on answering questions.

To learn more about AAMG, visit http://www.AAMG-US.org.

Thanks Evangelia - a good reminder, I know some of the people in this group.

Dear Mr Simpson I am very interested in your topic. I am dealing with very similar one in my PhD thesis, unfortunately the link you have shared is not working anymore, I would be glad, if you could share your research results with me. :)