The MMFA, with the support of Ubisoft Montréal, launches What A History!
A new mobile educational application that offers secondary-school pupils a fun and instructive tour of the Museum’s collection of Quebec and Canadian art
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, with financial support from Ubisoft Montreal, is launching What a History!, an interactive application for digital tablets designed for secondary-school students. Conceived and produced by the MMFA, this new multidisciplinary learning tool uses technology to give school groups a tour of the collection of Quebec and Canadian art in the MMFA’s Claire and Marc Bourgie Pavilion, enabling them to explore different eras and cultural realities through the medium of works of art.
Thanks to funding from Ubisoft Montreal, the MMFA is further computerizing its resources, which began with the launching of the online teaching platform EducArt.ca last September, in order to make its collection of art accessible to the widest possible public. Combining instructive educational content with the user friendliness of the tablet, the teaching application What a History! enhances the school visit by applying art and technology to the educational process.
“There is no museum without its collections! Making our collections accessible through a wide variety of platforms is vital. Schoolchildren can now access them on tablets. The collection of Quebec and Canadian art is now just a click away thanks to the educational application conceived by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts with the support of Ubisoft Montreal, to learn more about history through a visit to the Museum, and to learn about the art of Quebec and Canada.” says Nathalie Bondil, Director General and Chief Curator of the MMFA.
The partnership between the Museum and Ubisoft Montreal is part of Ubisoft’s Codex programme, which is designed to stimulate young, enlightened minds and awake their love of learning through games, thus equipping them to enter the world of technology and connectivity. In partnership with 18 organizations and institutions at all levels of education, Ubisoft Codex consists of 13 activities. By supporting the MMFA’s educational goals, Ubisoft Montreal is making a contribution to the community on the occasion of the city’s 375th anniversary
A trip through the MMFA’s collection of Canadian and Quebec art by means of technology
What a History! invites pupils from all levels of secondary school to a journey through time to discover works in the collection of Quebec and Canadian art displayed on all six levels of the Claire and Marc Bourgie Pavilion. This tour, provided to groups of two pupils at a time, at their own pace, responds to the teachers’ needs to offer the children an experience linked to their technological reality that is flexible and autonomous and yet truly focused. By following the thread of history and exploring the nation’s cultural realities over many eras, the students can appreciate the works better as they learn to observe, reflect and deduce.
