Living Heritage Educational Experiences in a Pandemic Scenario. The Case Study of the Ethnomedicine Museum A. Scarpa

Abstract

Heritage is inherently communicative; it is designed to transmit and represent. As stated by UNESCO, living heritage is fundamental because it provides communities and individuals with a sense of identity and continuity. It can help promote social cohesion, respect for cultural diversity and human creativity, as well as help communities build resilient, peaceful and inclusive societies. Ensuring that cultural heritage fulfils the function for which it was conceived and generated, even in the case of closures forced by health emergencies, means enhancing it, giving it the possibility to continue transmitting culture. In the current COVID-19 global pandemic scenario, we are helped by the many educational strategies available today thanks to science and technology that enable people of all ages to learn continuously, anytime, anywhere and in a variety of situations combining formal, non-formal and informal learning. The current scenario has forced a redesign of the way citizens, and especially students, access their formal education. This contribution aims to highlight the importance of using the self-determined approach for training and proposes a blended learning model (formal in virtual classrooms and informal in a museum) for intercultural education of health professionals. A model which can be reproduced in continuing education and which represents an innovative way of experiencing heritage in any situation.