Apps bring museum studies to life | Education | guardian.co.uk

Apps bring museum studies to life | Education | guardian.co.uk:

Interactive apps are becoming part of the museum experience for visitors and students. Photograph: Guardian

The term "museum" is an unlikely partner for "new technology" in any game of word association. But mention museums to master's students at the University of Leicester and the links have more to do with computerapps than history.

And that's not surprising, since postgraduates in museum studies at the university are leading the world in the use of touchscreen technology. Gone are photocopied handouts, clipboards, pens and notepads, replaced by small handheld digital museum study guides.

The digital app was devised by two lecturers at Leicester's School of Museum Studies, the world's largest training provider in the subject, with 80 master's students, 60 PhD students and a further 250 graduates around the world studying by distance learning.