Youth, heritage, and digital learning ecologies: Creating engaging virtual museum spaces
Abstract: This research was conducted as part of a project designed to offer guidance on the development of a youth oriented online space for a Canadian museum of heritage and immigration. This space would allow young people to learn about heritage, ethnicity, and cultural identity, ideally, aiding the development of a positive ethnic identity. This paper reports on literature based research in three key areas: how young people currently use technology and digital media, motivations and practices for pursuing informal learning online, and the influence on and use of virtual spaces for identity development. Both theoretical and empirical literature was explored, and it was concluded that to engage youth such a site must both allow for and encourage participation, communication, and collaboration. Social media sites, popular with youth and supporting sociocultural understandings of learning and identity development, could offer an excellent model for the design of such spaces.
Presider: Angela Rand, University of South Alabama