Online teaching and learning with digitised collections in higher education contexts, during the Covid-19 pandemic

In 2020 and 2021, Covid-19 lockdowns led to an unprecedented interest in the use of digital collections in the Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums (GLAM) sector, and for online teaching programmes in Higher Education. This project investigated investigated new and developing practice relating to using digitised collections for teaching and learning in Higher Education in Scotland and worldwide.

Led by members of University Museums in Scotland (UMIS), with the support of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the research aimed to identify activities which had worked (and those which hadn’t!) as part of the move towards using digitised collections during the Covid-19 pandemic. The project intended to focus on university museum collections but soon expanded to also include archives and library special collections as in many universities these holdings are co-managed.

Although the project was inspired by the pandemic shift, it remains of relevance and value. We hope that it brings a better understanding of current possibilities, as well as future changes and investment needed to enable the delivery of the best possible online teaching and learning experience with collections in Higher Education. We wish to empower academics, GLAM-sector professionals, and others, to embrace new approaches to teaching and learning, prompting greater uptake in online, remote, blended, and hybrid learning.