ICTeens

Last Thursday, February 22nd, 2018, participants from Youthreach, Limerick Community Education Network and Hunt Museum Docents gathered at The Hunt Museum for the first of ten ICTeens project workshops. This is an exciting and innovative intergenerational project that will facilitate the exchange of skills and knowledge, as well as collaboration between participants.

During the workshops, ICTeens younger participants will train adult learners in the use of social media and, in return, adults will offer up their knowledge of The Hunt’s prehistoric collections and local sites of relevance (including Lough Gur and Shannon Heritage’s Craggaunowen Prehistoric Open Air Museum.) They will also work together to create digital content linking these collections to these sites. They will examine the role archaeology plays in understanding the prehistoric past, from how our ancestors lived and worked, to how they died. This content will then be harnessed by the museum’s team of three Technical Communication & E-Learning MA students at the University of Limerick. These students will deliver an innovative and interactive eLearning resource for the Junior Cycle.

Over the course of this project, great emphasis will be placed on digital skill development and using hands-on activities for learning. Site visits are another key strand of this project.   Session two will see participants enjoy a handling session with prehistoric collections at Limerick City Museum. After Easter, they will take part in a technology day at Craggaunowen. With the help of UCC based archaeologist Rose Cleary, they will participate in a field trip to Lough Gur, where they will interpret key prehistoric features in this landscape.

For the Hunt Museum, this project is important for a number of reasons; it is supporting engagement with collections, the building of intergenerational relationships and the development of digital skills. It is also enabling them to highlight the important role John Hunt played locally in relation to Lough Gur (where he excavated extensively) and Craggaunowen, where he led the team that built the reconstructed crannog and was instrumental in setting up this site. The Hunt family also lived here for a time.

ICTeens has been made possible with funding from a number of sources including KBC Bright Ideas, The Ireland Funds and the Friends of The Hunt Museum. For further details on ICTeens contact Maria Cagney, Curator of Education and Outreach at The Hunt Museum on 06 131 2833.