Final Essay

Technological innovations have reshaped the concept of the museum and its role within society. The traditional perception of the museum is of a building that houses in the service of society a collection of culturally significant objects. The mission of this cultural institution is to acquire, catalogue, preserve, interpret and exhibit these objects, so as to make them accessible to the public for the purposes of research, education and enjoyment. The transition to the digital has seen the role of the museum shift away from “house and interpreter” towards “connection platform”. New technology has transformed the way information and knowledge regarding museum collections is disseminated both inside and outside museum contexts, which has allowed the museum to realize its mission in new and exciting ways.

This has led to the adoption of a new pedagogical model, the constructivist model. In her publication ‘Interactivity: Thinking Beyond’, Andrea Witcomb explores different teaching styles and their effectiveness. In the didactic model, exemplified through traditional museum exhibitions, learning is observed as a communicative process which involves the direct transmission of knowledge from the museum to the visitor. Therefore, the didactic model conceives the museum as a producer of knowledge, while the visitor is merely a passive receiver. New technology allows museums to consider the information they exhibit from the perspective of the visitor and thus takes into account what audiences bring to museum experiences. This has seen a shift towards constructivism, which as discussed by Witcomb conceptualises learning as “a process of experiencing the world and making sense of it in one’s own mind within the context of one’s cultural background.” Thus, in the constructivist model knowledge is discovered, rather than