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What's in the box - Alaska
Alaska may seem a long way away, but with new technology we are able to share information and talk face to face.
Late last year we were asked to send one of the indigenous cultural boxes over to Alaska for students from the Bering Strait School District. I combined content from the Art and Performance box with specimens from the Cultural history box to make up a kit that would give these students a great understanding of Australian Indigenous Culture.
The box stayed at the school for 3 months and then made it's journey back to Australia. To continue the relationship we recently arranged a time for the students to link up with Indigenous educator Laura McBride to learn more about indigenous cultures through art. With the help of the Distance and Rural technologies, part of the NSW Department of Education and Training we were able to video conference through Anchorage to the Bering Strait School District. Students were able to ask question throughout the workshop and each student painted a wooden boomerang creating a story through symbols and colour.
This was an amazing outreach opportunity to have a real time interaction across the globe and hopefully the first of many.
2 comments
What a great program Karen & Laura! Very exciting how technology is able to create rich communication to such a distant location. Look forward to seeing more!
Museum in a Box - Art and Performance View full size
James King
© Australian Museum
Museum staff video-conferencing View full size
© Department of Education and Training
Hi Jen, it was great to be able link up with Alaska and the video conferencing technology is enabling us to reach students that can't visit us. Lasdt year we reached 6500 students and this year will be ever greater. Cheers