Studying outside school: A visit to learning centres, museums and exhibitions

With the guidance by teachers or lecturers, students will be able to link what they have learnt elsewhere to the core content of their course.

With the initiative by teachers or lecturers, students will also develop the habit of exploring more knowledge by themselves and finally embrace lifelong learning.

I have always encouraged my students to explore knowledge beyond the classroom. My students are told to visit exhibitions, museums, art galleries, learning centres or libraries to see more according to their own interest. Then, they should determine how the new information they get can be linked to what they have already learned from the class.

I have encouraged my students to write their own diary or portfolio of their visit and share with friends too. Through such activities, students have to prepare and plan their visit, record what they see during the visits and then analyse what they find out from their visits. They will also learn to summarise and reveal their knowledge to others in a comprehensible way.

If teachers and lecturers engage their students in such activities, they have indirectly taught their students about knowledge seeking, planning, review, analysis, and presentation. Through such processes, students learn something implicitly by themselves, not by lectures.

In Thailand, we have many museums, exhibitions, art-galleries and learning centres in addition to local-wisdom experts. But we have not yet made the utmost use of such resources.

Actually, museums or galleries provide great learning space. Neat categories, exhibitions and artefacts convey not just knowledge but also inspiration and motivation.

Museums and the likes, therefore, promise to be learning facilitators. They are perfect tools for lifelong learning, a goal Thailand wants to achieve. 

These days, several museums can be accessed online too. Students, therefore, can access such resources anytime no matter where they are physically. The informal learning in museums and exhibitions provides a range of meanings and serves as subject resources for universities and schools. Although the approaches to learning may differ, the outside classroom learning may augment a detained activity in classroom and enact the learning between teachers to learners.

In fact, we need a type of learning activities that empowers students to understand their subject matter, develop their skills and attitudes, and promote their inspiration and creativity. Hence, the course design should be non-linear and self-directed with enjoyment. In doing so, firstly, we should identify the learning space nearby where we would like the students to visit, and then connect such places to the course syllabus.

Throughout a design out-of-classroom learning, we should include basic activities that may spur students to learn, play and think. Such activities should be associated with the content of the class. Importantly, students should visibly understand the goal that they will work out-of-class, too.

Students will actively engage their learning by their own experience. When they record or write what they learn, they boost the learning performance. It is an observation and reflection process of their learning.

In other words, as a course designer or educator, you must understand the pedagogical process of your course obviously. 

Consequently, learning space or museums shall facilitate creative, cultural and intellectual activity beyond school or university aspects. Students can learn from objects and discover information by themselves. It engages active learning and informal learning as well as reducing tensions from formal learning.

In turn, you create learning opportunities for your students via a constructive dialogue rather than as a passive process of transmission. We foresee that learning environment for the future is a new set of relationships among learners and places of exploration and discovery. Furthermore, the individual learners are able to use technologies to exercise choice and to take responsibility for their own learning.

As a conclusion, we should provide a choice of learning spaces and tools for students and give them a freedom to learn based on the subject matter and their own interest.