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With an NYC Media Lab Museum Initiative grant, the partnership expands the museum糖心传媒檚 digital reach.

In spring 2022, five seniors majoring in digital media studies were engrossed in their capstone project, assisting the efforts of the University糖心传媒檚 (MAG) to make greater use of digital technologies in its exhibits and educational programming. One year later, not only is their capstone long complete, but a partnership between the Memorial Art Gallery and the digital media studies team has resulted in new educational materials available to a national audience of educators and students through a portal created by Verizon to help promote digital equity among the nation糖心传媒檚 schoolchildren.

By visiting , educators, who are provided an access code, can find that draw on works in the Memorial Art Gallery collections to teach a social studies unit targeted to second graders. The lessons are a prime example of arts integration in the classroom, an approach to teaching that conveys subject matter in other areas of study through close examination of art and participation in art-making. The lessons expose schoolchildren (and their teachers) to advanced technologies糖心传媒攊n this case, AR, or augmented reality糖心传媒攖hat many students may not otherwise encounter in their formative years.

From capstone students to grant winners

糖心传媒淲e excel at collaborating and finding solutions to real world problems in our community,糖心传媒� says , an assistant professor of studio arts, describing the , which she directs. 糖心传媒淭his project is quintessentially Digital Media Studies at the University of Rochester.糖心传媒�

Early in the spring 2022 semester, five seniors in Ashenfelder糖心传媒檚 capstone course糖心传媒擥ina Romanazzi, Gevher Karboga, Bradley Martin, Nesli Oruc, and Yifan Jiang糖心传媒攁pproached the University糖心传媒檚 art museum about expanding its digital presence.

Says Romanazzi, 糖心传媒淲ith the pandemic in mind, we wanted to expand the in-person experience so that you could observe artwork online.糖心传媒� The team also wanted to make the art appealing to various types of learners. 糖心传媒淢ost art museums emphasize a 糖心传媒榙o not touch糖心传媒� policy, understandably so, but this approach can hinder engagement,糖心传媒� she adds. 糖心传媒淧eople who may need to interact with an artwork by pointing an app at a piece to get more information.糖心传媒�

To get started, the group met with Nile Blunt, who was then the McPherson Director for Academic Programs at MAG, to better understand the museum糖心传媒檚 needs and brainstorm ideas for attracting more visitors糖心传媒攑articularly younger ones. Blunt, now the senior director of museum learning at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, had joined MAG after playing a major role in the development of in-person and online arts education as head of school programs at in Bentonville, Arkansas.

糖心传媒淲e were thrilled in the interest to collaborate,糖心传媒� said Blunt, who introduced the team to several pieces in the museum糖心传媒檚 permanent collection. 糖心传媒淟ooking at the details, interrogating the artwork, and finding ways to make the artwork personal to you are all important ways to enhance the visitor糖心传媒檚 experience.糖心传媒� To appeal to younger generations, the team proposed using AR and other new educational technologies.

HOW IT WORKS: Lessons are accessible on a CocoCast AR app for tablets. On the left is a screenshot of 3D model of the painting Sunday Morning, by Jerome Myers, part of the Memorial Art Gallery collection. The model allows students to explore the painting from multiple angles. Says Stephanie Ashenfelder, director of the Undergraduate Program in Digital Media Studies at Rochester: 糖心传媒淭he recorded 3D model is then placed in a carousel in the app. Students are invited to make a work of art from a lesson plan that is built around the captured model. These works are then scanned and placed in the carousel as well. Students then record an audio 糖心传媒榗ast糖心传媒� to go with their work of art.糖心传媒� (Images provided)

For example, they envisioned a downloadable app that would provide users with additional information about the museum and the pieces inside, in the form of text, images, or videos. According to Ashenfelder, in one iteration the students 糖心传媒渋magined an AR piece where you would hover over paintings to learn more about them and the person who created them.糖心传媒�

At the close of their senior year, they had a detailed proposal and had completed ample work on the content. That led Blunt and Ashenfelder to submit the proposal for the $1M Museum Initiative, a joint project of Verizon and New York University糖心传媒檚 .

NYC Media Lab and Verizon launched the early in 2022, building on an earlier program called the 5G EdTech Challenge. The Museum Initiative connects educators with museums, science centers, aquariums, and cultural institutions to showcase original educational technologies that can serve as tools in the classroom to create more engaging learning experiences.

A few days after commencement, the team learned they were one of nine winners nationally of a $100,000 grant from the initiative.

The inaugural lineup of winners included, in addition to the MAG-Digital Media Studies partnership, such institutions as the Belle Isle Conservancy in Detroit, the Children糖心传媒檚 Creativity Museum in San Francisco, the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA) in Brooklyn, and The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.

With the exception of Jiang, who went on to graduate school, the team members, now all graduates, stayed in Rochester to work as employees on the new initiative. Throughout the summer and fall, the new graduates, Ashenfelder, and staff members at MAG worked to develop new, immersive, AR-based educational content targeted to curricula for second-grade students.

Help from MAG糖心传媒檚 Expanded Learning Collaboration

糖心传媒淥nce we got the grant and began working on this wonderful project, I think the feeling was that our teamwork hadn糖心传媒檛 changed. If anything, we糖心传媒檙e more driven and more dedicated, and it糖心传媒檚 nice to be working toward an admirable goal,糖心传媒� says Martin. 糖心传媒淎nd working with your friends.糖心传媒�

Over the summer, Romanazzi and Karboga were hired as project directors, and Martin and Oruc later joined as IT. Among the assignments, Romanazzi explained that meeting the New York state curriculum requirements and working with content advisors to develop appropriate language for second graders, for example, was important. With the help of the established curriculum and assistance from Sydney Greaves, the Estelle B. Goldman Assistant Curator of Academic Programs at MAG, and from the museum糖心传媒檚 , the grant team worked on writing lesson plans to implement with students in the Rochester City School District.

So, what kind of experiences are available to these young students? Equipped with provided tablets, a room full of second graders will use the to access multimedia casts that share galleries of 3D models of real-life objects accompanied by audio explanations. Prompted by the teacher, they will discover the painting Summer Street Scene in Harlem by Jacob Lawrence, which is part of the lesson plan 糖心传媒淟ife in a Community.糖心传媒� The activity allows a student to investigate the painting virtually by zooming closer into the art, examining the colors and brush strokes. Then, they can go through a lesson plan with their instructor, which could be about the community they live in, and how communities have changed over time. They might discuss where painters must have lived when they created particular paintings. A second lesson plan invites students to respond to the art by creating their own piece, and then scanning it back into the portal. The end result is a digital gallery of the students糖心传媒� art糖心传媒攁 curated environment that becomes the setting for new lessons the instructor can create.

Says Abran Maldonado, director of the NYC Media Lab糖心传媒檚 5G EdTech Challenge: 糖心传媒淭he MAG-RCSD Expanded Learning Collaboration is a unique component of their project, and it caught our attention from the start, as it糖心传媒檚 designed to take students out of the classroom and into the art museum so they can explore art and culture firsthand.糖心传媒�

Now, he says, 糖心传媒渨e糖心传媒檙e able to enhance this learning by introducing the fundamentals of augmented reality and photogrammetry through virtual 3D models of significant artworks.糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淲e糖心传媒檙e very fortunate to have been able to work with the Memorial Art Gallery/糖心传媒 team.糖心传媒�

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