In addition to changing the teaching and learning at SI, CHICO is exploring the ways in which information and collaboration technology can change learning in K-12 environments. CHICO is providing new models of learning that distribute the responsibility for education beyond the teachers and the boundaries of schools and that promote collaboration among people and resources in local communities. For example, with access to digital collections of local museums, students can develop background knowledge needed to understand the exhibits, and pursue their own inquiries over time. This provides an opportunity for students to develop and enhance their own understanding and appreciation of the art works, to ask and respond to questions in a collaborative setting, to create their own art and their own understanding and learning about art, and to present their accomplishments to others.
In partnership with the U-M School of Music and the School of Art and Design, CHICO is creating a digital collection of musical instruments from diverse cultures and times. The Music Heritage Network (MHN) is a resource which provides a virtual tour of the collection as well as an electronic Teachers' Forum. CHICO has an extraordinary opportunity to provide multicultural visibility in the content of networked and digital information, and to enable multicultural audiences to be users and creators of this material. The project looks at cultural artifacts to explore the larger cultural context of which they are a part, and to look at such issues as music and identity, creative boundaries, and cultural border crossings.
Project staff consider art and music as an integral part of culture, and are striving to create a digital resource that is accessible in many contexts by diverse users and plays a role in multicultural education and outreach using multimedia technologies.
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