NAS Online Course – Public Engagement – the big picture

On the 29th November 2020 the Foundation funded 10 students and researchers to attend the NAS online course – Public Engagement – the big picture. The course was one of several NAS online courses held in 2020, as many face to face workshops and training events have been postponed due to covid-19, these events help students and researchers to continue training in the field. 

The course was organised by the Nautical Archaeology Society and led by tutor Dr Danielle Newman. This one-day course focussed on equipping participants to confidently run public engagement activities for a wide variety of audiences. It covered ways of engaging with the public, how to decide on aims and objectives, picking a target audience, activity design, running an activity, using technology and social media & evaluation methods. There was also a focus on online public engagement.

Course Outline:

• Examples of outreach, education, public engagement
• Understanding aims and objectives
• Ways of designing activities
• Logistics, Health & Safety at your event
• Using technology, the internet and social media for outreach
• Ways to evaluate your activity
• Activity workshops in groups

Learning Outcomes:

Upon completion of this course, participants will have better understanding of how to design, promote, implement & evaluate outreach activities for a wide variety of audiences. Participants will understand the different ways of engagement possible and the importance of matching aims and messages to audiences. Participants will also learn how to develop many activities for one project.

Below is a list of the students supported by the Foundation to attend the course;

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  Bahar from the CMAUCH Maritime Archaeology Outreach Project attending the course! Courtesy of Nada Nofal

  Reem Nader
• Noran Hamed
• Elissa Z. Nader
• Tareq Awwad
• Nada Kamel
• Sarah Ibrahima Aly Abdelrahman
• Maria Ktori
• Nesreen Aly ElGaly
• Vanessa Ayoub
• Alicia Johnson
• Sergio el Kesrouwani
• Sirine Ghiye

Nada Nofal – ‘Within the Big Picture Course, I have gained better understanding of the theoretical aspects of public engagement and pedagogy. I have been introduced to different methods of engagement as well as evaluation. Moreover, I have learned how to develop many activities that suitable for a wide variety of audiences, in addition to how to use the internet and social media for outreach’.

Elissa Nader – ‘This session was one of the best I attended so far because I’ve wanting to learn the proper process to highlight the importance of heritage and bringing it to the public. it has certainly expanded my skills and abilities. Now I have a better background on the methods of engaging society with their heritage and culture’.

Vanessa Ayoub – ‘This course has given me a motive to consider public engagement as an essential part in archaeology by learning its different aspects and effects on the mindset of the public leading to a better understanding, preservation and publication of archaology…………. I am definitely now more confident to run a public engagement project’.

Reem Nader – ‘Thanks to the Honor Frost Bursary, I was able to learn new methods in public engagement that I would be willing to deploy in my ongoing project. I will be preparing a presentation for my associates to include more of the materials I recently acquired. I plan to expand the Archaeology Awareness project beyond a website, as I found strategic ways to indulge with the public. This course definitely enhanced my engagement skills and helped me see through the eyes of the public and how maritime archaeology can be promoted in Lebanon’.