Digital Learning and Heritage Education: An Experience of Skills Development and Learning Design for Future Educators

The training of museum professionals, such as museum educators, presented, at least until the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, little emphasis on the use of new digital technologies, the promotion of entrepreneurship, digital skills and the development of soft skills. However, the use of web, mobile and social media tools is becoming increasingly popular in the field of heritage education, particularly from 2020: the impact that the last pandemic has had on the digital transformation of the heritage world is impressive and a simultaneous growth of professional training experiences in the sector have been realized by different type of educational institutions. In this context, the solicitation of Critical Thinking and Creativity skills, in addition to purely Digital skills, is crucial in order to enable educators to operate critically and consciously whenever they manipulate, implement and evaluate digital information, tools and objects. The paper aims to present the educational path and learning outcomes of the course “Digital Learning Environments for Museum Education,” of the distance learning Bachelor’s Degree program “Digital Education”, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. The course, offered during the academic years 2021–22, 2022–23 and 2023–24 provided a series of synchronous and asynchronous learning activities aimed at promoting knowledge and skills within students in the field of museum education and instructional design from an international perspective. Students’ achievements are presented and analyzed in order to identify specific actions to implement the experience, especially in formal and digital learning contexts.