Late last year I attended an international gathering, the 2nd Colloquy on the Parthenon Marbles titled Parthenon an Icon of Global Citizenship. My contribution focused on ways of employing the tool kit of 21st Century digital strategies in teaching about Ancient Greece, and about the Parthenon in particular.
Keynote was the software I used to produce this work. Since it’s only partly revealed in the accompanying YouTube video you can access a full version of the presentation here in Google Drive.
My aim was to demonstrate opportunities for Constructivist and Connectivist approaches employing 21st Century digital tools. My curriculum focus was the new Australian National History Curriculum, but this approach can be applied to any systemic or school based curriculum. Augmented reality apps and the opportunities inherent in effective use of Google Drive were highlighted in the second part of the presentation.
At the outset I must declare my bias. I firmly believe that the Parthenon Marbles should be returned to Greece. They were not legitimately acquired. They have been placed in gallery where they are interpreted in a manner that is unable to acknowledge, or address, their original and dynamic relationship with the entire work from which they were stripped.
Recently the British Museum has been attempting some retrospective justification of this stripping away of the Sculptures’ meaning by applying a new taxonomy. A self-serving exercise this reframes the Parthenon Sculptures as a valuable part of a Universal Museum. Unfortunately, this recent iteration merely imposes a form of imperial taxonomy on the Sculptures and many other exhibits in the BM.
So my work is partisan, but the digital techniques I’ve demonstrated are entirely transferable and might be applied to any area of curriculum.
Here is my presentation. Sorry about the sound quality.
Russell Darnley Blog 