#HeritageChat

Every month the Historic Environment Forum hosts a Twitter chat for the sector. September 2022 is the first #HeritageChatWeek from 26th to 30th, with themed questions every day.

Different organisations and people host #HeritageChat each month who select the theme and set a call for questions a few weeks in advance. Six to eight questions are selected and published in the program a few days earlier. The chat is recorded and published on the Historic Environment Forum’s website.

The topics promote collaboration in the sector while contributing to the Forum’s Strategic Framework.

Here are the #HeritageChatWeek questions:

“Monday 26th September

Learning Resources & Opportunities

What learning opportunities do historic environment projects offer? How can our sector help educators draw on these opportunities to support heritage education for under-18s?
What types of resources do you / your organisation currently use or produce to support heritage education? How are they used by their target audience?
Where are educational resources for heritage published? How do educators know to find them?

Tuesday 27th September

Innovative Technology

What are your experiences of producing or using digital heritage resources aimed at young people and their educators?
What digital innovations do you believe offer exciting opportunities for producing educational resources about the historic environment ? (e.g: video games, virtual reality, artificial intelligence)?

Wednesday 28th September

Evaluation

How do you evaluate the educational resources you produce? What does success look like?
What lessons have you learned, particularly regarding designing resources for educational contexts?
What barriers do you think prevent the use of existing resources in educational contexts? How can we improve or overcome them?

Thursday 29th September

Design

What do you think are the key features of a successful resource for use in heritage education?
What digitally innovative educational resource would you love to see that would help under-18s learn about their historic environment?
What are the most cost effective tools for developing or delivering heritage educational resources?

Friday 30th September

Legacies

How do we plan for technological change and protect the content of our digital resources?
Why is it important that educators of under-18s are able to access resources and opportunities to provide historic environment focused learning? How might this provision impact public perception and understanding of our sector?
How can we better plan for learning legacies as part of our heritage project frameworks?”

The Historic Environment Forum seeks to enhance collaboration in the sector engaging with strategic matters between members of organisations. The Forum hosts a variety of activities for conservation, promotion and research of England’s historic environment.

Our take

#HeritageChat is an excellent initiative bringing the sector’s professionals together to share knowledge and build a network. The Twitter chat format allows for the participation of a broad range of professionals and within its nature promotes collaboration. The HeritageChat Archive offers a great space for learning open to all.