Dr. Antonella Poce’s Keynote

Creating Cultural Assets to Foster Social Inclusion and Development

Developing innovative cultural experiences that link local, urban, and cultural heritage can lead to an increase in citizenship skills and social inclusion.

The use of new learning methodologies and innovative digital tools along with a focus on cultural heritage has been successful in fighting the realities of marginalization. We see this in many international programs, such as the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce; Heritage Lottery Fund in the UK and programs in the cities of Pittsburgh and Dallas in the U.S. Programs like these enhance transferable skills—especially 4C skills: Creativity, Communication, Collaboration and Critical Thinking, together with digital skills—for a variety of different types of people, particularly those belonging to disadvantaged social groups such as migrants, people with physical or mental disabilities, and the elderly. In addition, such programs also encourage the creation of new social business models that can generate inclusive growth.

In this keynote, Dr. Poce will describe international case studies in which people participate in different experiences that use advanced technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to allow people to experience cultural heritage objects and places. Dr. Poce will describe experiences carried out within the European Inclusive Memory project along with data from field analysis of the project’s experiences thus far.

Under the model that Dr. Poce will describe, people’s active citizenship skills and their participation in cultural life and events will be encouraged. Industries in the creative and technological sectors, personal care organizations, universities, and heritage sites will form a network of collaboration for the promotion of social inclusion and well-being.

Cities change at a remarkable speed. Arts and culture are important drivers for the development of urban centers and identifying new models of effective development is not always so easy. Working in international contexts can facilitate the growth of new ideas, exchange and collaboration.

The recent changes in Pittsburgh and Dallas show how transformative such changes can be; urban areas which combine an active cultural life and properly designed public spaces attract investment, knowledge, workers and tourists, facilitate the creation of community and social capital, and reveal the distinctive local identity. But investments need to be well placed in order to be productive. The European Inclusive Memory project looks to promote change via the effective use of cultural assets and technology-supported learning experiences.

About Dr. Antonella Poce

Dr. Antonella Poce currently holds the role of Full Professor in Experimental Pedagogy at University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, where she directs INTELLECT (Centre for Research into Museum Education, Well-being and Teaching Technology). She is the Head of the one-year post-graduate courses "Heritage Education and Digital Technologies” and "Museum Education: General Aspects," as well as the two-year post-graduate course "Advanced Studies in Museum Education." Dr. Poce coordinates national units within European project frameworks and she has been chairing international academic committees dealing with distance learning. She is the author of numerous publications of national and international relevance on the topics of innovation, assessment, and the use of technology in teaching and learning and in the context of heritage fruition.


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