Discover mobile learning project, National Maritime Museum

Discover mobile learning project, National Maritime Museum

The National Maritime Museum’s mobile learning platform “reinterprets galleries on the fly for specific audiences, such as schools and family groups”. Using an augmented-reality layer delivered via an Android tablet, small groups of two to three people explore the Museum’s galleries, accessing deeper content linked to the objects on display.

Anna Faherty worked with the National Maritime Museum‘s digital media and learning teams, as well as Kin Design, to develop on-screen text to support two KS3 study days. The projects involved:

  • subject and object research relating to the themes of transatlantic slavery and the history of the East India Company
  • writing concise object-linked text for on-screen viewing by a KS3 audience
  • researching and writing an on-screen glossary
  • writing instructional text and hints
  • writing text for the teacher tablet and teacher-focused website

Sample object descriptions:

Portrait of Thomas Cavendish, Francis Drake and John Hawkins

Before the Royal Navy even existed these three adventurers were attacking Spanish ships for Britain.They captured plenty of treasure and were celebrated as heroes.Hawkins was also the first British slave trader. People don’t like to admit that Drake sailed on one of his transatlantic voyages, or that Queen Elizabeth I leant a ship to his business.

Portrait of Hannah More

You can tell by the quill that Hannah More was a writer. She penned the lines ‘Shall Britain, where the soul of freedom reigns, Forge changes for others she herself disdains?’ as part of a poem supporting abolition. Women played a major role in the campaign against slavery, even though they weren’t allowed to vote in elections.

Portrait of Olaudah Equiano

Just like tales from modern-day celebrities, this man’s autobiography became a bestseller. Olaudah Equiano was captured and sold into slavery in Nigeria. He later bought his freedom and served at sea, taking part in an unsuccessful expedition to sail through the Arctic. Stories of slavery written by enslaved people challenged common views of the trade and those it affected.

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