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The education system has changed, particularly regarding lifelong learning. Many universities have reacted to this challenge. The Hornemann Institute, Faculty Preservation of Cultural Heritage of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen produces e-learning courses for further education in German and English. With this multimedia course, the Hornemann Institute offers specialists in the field of conservation of cultural heritage customized study at their own rate of speed and free selection of time and place. Dividing the courses into modules permits free selection of contents according to specific needs and background. Only requirement for the courses is an internet-access. The participants of the courses can communicate with the authors or the tutor via telephone or email.
The Hornemann Institute is developing online continuing education courses for persons who are dedicated to cultural heritage preservation. As this target group faces rapid changes in their profession, there is a great demand for career accompanying further training. The institute has concentrated primarily on courses drawn up by the teaching staff of the university. Initially these courses are intended for full-time students of the Faculty Preservation of Cultural Heritage. The courses are implemented in the full-time study program at the authors’ discretion: some instructors offer the courses to supplement current lectures, others as follow-up study. And others make use of the courses as preliminary preparation to ensure that all the full-time students possess the same basic knowledge when beginning full-time study. This then allows more time for the practical part of the study. In addition, some courses are open to anyone concerned with the conservation of cultural heritage. The Hornemann Institute is responsible for the organization and the administration. Distant students will be granted a Hornemann Institute certificate upon successful completion of the program and passing a final on-line examination. Tutors The courses are intended as a self-study courses. "Checkpoints" permit monitoring learning progress and are therefore highly motivating. The types of tests are: matching, filling in gaps and multiple choice. Correction follows immediately and automatically. More extensive essay tests are sent to the institute via e-mail. The authors set the length and allowed time for these tests. All questions to the contact addresses are directed to the Hornemann Institute, where the ones concerning technical issues are answered directly by the staff. Questions concerning the content are directed to either the tutor or the author/s. Evaluation Full-time students and distant students were asked to evaluate the courses. The response of both target groups was quite favorable. This might not be surprising in the case of the distant students as they chose the internet as their medium. The very positive response from the full-time students came a bit unexpectedly. Indeed, meanwhile an increasing number of teaching staff of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts have come to see the possibilities of using on-line courses for teaching the principles of a course in order to be able to spend more time for hands-on learning in workshops. In contrast to other study material, on-line course contents can constantly be updated by the authors and the learners never risk working with obsolete outdated material as may happen with printed media. The didactic versatility and interactivity of the continued education courses and the ability to adapt the study material to own individual needs is very motivating for both full-time students and working distant students. Learning is flexible and adaptable: the courses permit individualized learning at the learner’s own speed and to the depth the learner desires. Moreover, motivating is the fact that the learner can check his/her progress him/herself. Users are able to access the course contents whenever and wherever they want. There are no travel costs and no time lost on the job. Graphs and dynamic animation make it difficult to understand contents more accessible. Short video sequences (approx. 10 sec.) of practical examples make clearer what is relevant. However, not everything that is possible is didactically useful. The multimedia elements must contribute to learning. Internet-based communication elements such as e-mail, chat rooms, discussion forums allow the instructors and users to exchange experiences and work on tasks together. The institute tutors can also be reached by telephone and will assist in technical problems or problems relating to the subject. Printed media are better suited for long texts than the new media – no one wants to read a thousand pages on a computer screen. Good study courses focus on where established media show their limitations. The average time a learner spends at the computer is forty-five minutes. He should be able to grapple with a subject in this time. So we ask our authors to provide precise and concise material. Presently, there are three courses undergoing: - Conservation Theories and Methods from the mid-20th century to the Present
by Prof. Dr. Ursula Schädler-Saub
(19 January – 12 April 2009)
by Prof. Dr. Maierbacher-Legl, Julia Schultz M.A. and Merle Strätling M.A.
(26 January – 19 April 2009)
by Dr. Patricia Engel and Michael Höjlund Rasmussen
(26 January – 22 March 2009).
Next available course in English Microbic Infestation of Objects of Art and Cultural Heritage by Prof. Dr. Karin Petersen und Barbara Hentschel M.A. 28 September – 22 November 2009 The focal point of this course is presenting different methods of detecting and analyzing microorganisms encountered in objects of cultural heritage. The user is introduced to simple analyzing techniques as well as modern and specific approaches. The different ways of removing samples and of nondestructive testing are described explaining which results obtained using these techniques are of significance for the conservator. Moreover, one module deals with the principles and fundamentals of a discipline, thus enabling a user without any background in the field to gain access to the contents of the course. Read more about this course...
For further information about the courses
see: www.hornemann-institut.org ▲TOP
Area Conservation in the Arab–Islamic City
The forthcoming book by Ahmed Sedky, architect and specialist in area conservation, is proposing a new preservation assessment of historic regions of Middle East cities, with a focus on Cairo as a case study. The deterioration of urban historic areas in the Arab–Islamic countries is the author's main concern, who reveals the reality of these cities regarded as "a glamorous urban dream in human cultural memory". The city of Cairo, still preserving a traditional lifestyle in the medieval urban system, is explored and compared with other regional or international case studies.
The author seeks to understand the causes behind the actual condition of the historic city starting by the elaboration of criteria for the retrospective assessment of the area conservation. Structured in 3 parts, the book starts with 'what' and 'how' to conserve, and concludes with the assessment of the area conservation in Cairo. The analysis is done by looking at factors such as integrity, authenticity and sustainability. Tourism and financial aid are discussed as funding mechanism for conservation. The author also makes an effective analysis of the conservation process, discussing issues like general appraisal, bureaucracy, management, partnership and community participation among others. The book is one of the first publications that focus on conservation on an urban scale in Egypt and probably the first that assess the work of conservation conducted in Historic Cairo. The book is addressed to specialists such as architects, engineers, urban planning decision makers but also to students, social scientists and to anyone with an interest in old quarters mainly in the Middle East and Islamic countries.
Experts' Roundtable Proceedings
The Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) is known for promoting the dissemination of information through freely available electronic publications. ▲TOP
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