Document Type

Presentation

Conference Name

TPS Fest (Teaching With Primary Sources)

Publication Date

7-23-2025

Keywords

Teaching, Primary Sources, Exhibits, Authentic Learning

Abstract

Engaging students in exhibit work offers them a chance to learn new skills and grow as scholars while producing a tangible and public-facing project outcome from their coursework. From learning to communicate complex ideas to making research connections between rare and primary sources, exhibit curation relies on building research skills, sharpening writing and communication techniques, and developing critical thinking skills. Pushing and refining ideas is an essential part of the iterative process of research, and exhibit curation invites students to learn this practice in a real-world, project-based way. More specifically, it requires students to read, review, compare, and analyze more content than they can showcase, meaning they learn how to edit, select the most relevant resources, and experience the kinds of background and supplemental reading that form the backbone of detailed research endeavors. Through the design and layout process they also learn about the impacts of visual communication in addition to written communication.

This talk showcases two semester-long projects that incorporated exhibit curation and design into undergraduate classes, making it the central project around which all coursework was framed. It will highlight successes, challenges, and outcomes that arose for students and through the deep collaborations of librarians and faculty.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Comments

This presentation was delivered at the 2025 TPS Fest conference held by the Teaching With Primary Sources Collective. A presentation script follows the slides in the PDF file.

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