Teaching innovation in heritage. MURAA+ BIP

Abstract

This paper presents the results of the international workshop entitled MURAA+, held at the Higher Technical School of the Polytechnic University of Valencia. The workshop aims to explore the building of social value at the Térmas de Mura archaeological park in Llíria, a site containing Roman remains from the 1st century AD located in the town centre. This initiative stems from a project launched a year earlier by the Politecnico di Milano in collaboration with the “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urbanism, the University of Valladolid and the Polytechnic University of Valencia, and now includes the University of Florence and the University of Porto as new partners. It adopts the structure of a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP), funded by the European Union, with both an online and a face-to-face component. The course is based on the following teaching methodologies: online and face-to-face masterclasses on the topics to be covered in the workshop; project-based learning: a heritage intervention project is carried out; collaborative learning: projects are developed in groups mixing students from the different participating schools; hands-on work, through drawings and models, allowing interaction within the group and reflection whilst formal solutions are being developed; and learning from real case studies through several visits to heritage intervention sites. As for the face-to-face component of the work, this is organised into three distinct phases: an initial analysis phase, in which the case study is examined; a second phase involving a review of relevant literature, in which intervention strategies used in other projects and potentially useful for the case study are analysed; and, finally, the project itself, which is based on the analysis and the literature reviewed. The results demonstrate the value of this innovative teaching initiative.