Experience and immersive technologies – from creative practice to educational theory

Who are we?

• The Jagiellonian University, Institute of Culture, as project coordinator
• Film School in Lodz with their center of excellence in the digital media, the Visual Narratives Laboratory,
• University of Malta with their Department of Digital Arts as knowledge transfer partner for Learning Teaching Training and summer school organizer,
• University of Athens with their Laboratory of new technologies in communication, education and mass media as knowledge transfer partner in VR design and evaluation, LTT, and Multiplier event organizer.

Why do we do this?

The COVID-19 epidemic, which limited our social activity by locking us in our homes, has led to unprecedented activity in the digital sphere, not only forcing entire areas of culture and education to embrace the virtual, but also to look for new ways to engage and strengthen participation in this realm. With the traditional channels of consumption and participation in events closed, education, tourism, the conference industry as well as artistic practice had to find new ways to reach their audiences. These actors focused not only on the flat screens of media consumption, but increasingly tried to build a new space for the audience to be immersed in and transported by. An alternative world, in which we can access cultural goods beyond the limits of social distancing, developed at a rapid pace by offering virtual cinemas, virtual museums, or film festivals.

The development of new technologies has accelerated to the extent that it is difficult to keep up not only with what is new, but above all with the possibilities of their use. There is a shortage of specialists who would help cultural institutions to operate, educate and meet the needs of their audiences in the new, virtual dimension, but, more importantly, there are no (human) resources for training staff.

What would we like to achieve?

This project responds to the need to enrich the existing educational programs for both cultural and media managers, but also for artists aspiring to connect with their audiences in the digital space. The project’s overall goal is to develop an educational offer for these groups in the field of immersive media (XR), and ways of using these media to engage audiences. More specifically, the project aims at increasing the skills and competences of the participants in designing and evaluating immersive experiences in order to effectively manage, disseminate, and produce culture in the digital sphere. Further, it is about increasing the knowledge and competences of the academic staff working with immersive technologies, in order to effectively manage, disseminate, and produce digital culture in a market environment.

How do we want to reach our goal?

Our goal will be scrutinized through specialized training courses. The project’s team will also elaborate open educational resources (OER) in the field of experience management and culture with the use of immersive technologies. We will help building an open attitude of students and academic staff towards the application of new technologies in the humanities.

The educational activities in the project are planned as follows:

• a summer school in Malta, involving 5 students from each participating HEI to work in the University’s immersive lab with a VR cave that can hold 5 to 10 people,
• a winter school in Kraków, involving again 5 students from each HEI,
• 4 Learning Teaching Training sessions: two during the summer/winter schools, and another two separate 5-day events in Malta and Athens respectively. Each will include 5 academic teachers from the JU and Film School, MU and NKAU.

More information

Team

Jagiellonian University
Monika Hapek
Marta Materska-Samek

Film School in Lodz
Małgorzata Kotlińska
Wojciech Olchowski
Krzysztof Pijarski
Filip Gabriel Pudło
Magdalena Sobocińska

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
George Anastassakis
Caterina Antonopoulou
Natalia Arsenopoulou
Dimitris Charitos
Demitri Delinikolas
Penny Papageorgopoulou
Charalampos Rizopoulos
Iouliani Theona

L-Università ta’ Malta
Fabrizio Calì
Adnan Hadzi

Project Coordinator

Organisation: Uniwersytet Jagielloński
Address: Ul. Golebia 24, 31-007 Kraków, Poland
Website:  http://www.uj.edu.pl

Project Information

Identifier: 2020-1-PL01-KA226-HE-095891
Start Date: May 1, 2021
End Date: Apr 30, 2023

EC Contribution: 212,187 EUR
Partners:  L-Università ta’ Malta, Film School in Lodz, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Topics: Creativity and culture ; ICT – new technologies – digital competences ; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

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