Learning Materials
Scran Learning Materials
Case Study
1. Author details
| Name: | Frances Forrest |
| Job title: | Research Student |
| Institution: | Sabhal Mòr Ostaig |
About the authors:
B.A. and M.F.A in Fine Art. Teaching credential for secondary school in Idaho, USA: English, Spanish, Art, French. Taught English, Spanish and Art at secondary school level in Idaho. B.A. Gaelic Language and Culture, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Isle of Skye 2001. Studied Information Technology during academic year 2001-02 at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig.
2. The materials
A web-based tutorial ‘Dualchas na Gàidhealtachd’ / ’Traditional Culture of the Scottish Highlands and Islands’. The site was created to support teaching in the Dualchas/Traditional Culture modules at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig. I also hoped it could be used to support Gaelic-medium education in the primary schools.
Why did you want to create these materials?
The photographs in the Scran collection are excellent, but as single items they lack a context. I created this website to bring the photographs together in one place so that they could complement and define each other as part of a whole. They have a much greater potential to communicate to the viewer in the context of being inter-related as aspects of work-ways and material culture.
How will your materials benefit learners?
- They will give them an introduction to the material culture of a way-of-life that was integral to the Gaidhealtachd, but which is almost entirely gone. I combined information directly related to the specific photos and general background information to link the photos to each other.
- I used quotes to hear the voices of real people whose lives were shaped by this environment. So the website will introduce viewers to native speakers of Gaelic describing not only some of the work-ways in the Gaidhealtachd in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but also sometimes revealing their own attitudes to those aspects of their lives. It will give viewers the flavour of the speech of these individuals as well as simple information from them.
- It will show students and teachers what can be done with the Scran collections as a resource, especially because every picture is connected to the original source at Scran.
How will they improve on previous methods of teaching this topic?
Previously discussion of work-ways in the Dualchas courses was mostly limited to verbal input. The addition of strong visual input will make the topic more real and hopefully engage the interest of students in the material aspect of traditional Gaelic culture.
3. Creating the materials
- Searched Scran site to determine how many photographs are in the collection that are directly related to the "Traditional Culture and History of the Scottish Highlands and Islands" topic as originally anticipated.
- Searched Scran to determine how much material is available in Gaelic.
- Developed the first page "Aodach air a' Ghàidhealtachd anns an 19mh linn" in both Gaelic and in English versions as an example in support of the application for a Scran Award for Materials Development. As described in the application, the web pages are directed towards use in the Traditional Culture modules at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig.
- Began collecting photographs from Scran, based upon a group of topics as presented in the example submitted. Assembled photos in categories in my files.
- Cropped photos and resized as required.
- Altered the photographs as required to enhance clarity and repair images (using Paint Shop Pro). For example, see Obair Fearainn air a' Ghàidhealtachd, go to A' giùlan feamainn le each is cairt, Malaglate, Uibhist a Tuath, mu 1912 and click on photo to view the damage in the original.
- In a few cases altered photos by adding numbers or transparent reddish layer to convey information.
- Assembled the web pages as linked to the introductory page, which acknowledges Scran as the source for the materials. This page links to an English version. All photos are linked to the Scran page from which they are derived, except for photos that have been taken by myself, Frances Forrest.
Format of web pages:
- At the present, there are three levels of text-type. The first level is the small bold type used for photo captions, where information is closely linked to the specific photo. The second level is background information about specific topics. It is adjacent to the photos and is in a different type size, not bold. The third level is direct quote transcribed from audio recordings. It is in dark reddish-brown italics in a different type style and appears in quotes. There is an identification of the origin/location of the speaker being quoted at the end of the quote.
- The photo caption information was assembled as a first priority. As the background information was prepared and added, this led to changes in the caption information as well as changes in location of material. When photo/description sequences were too long, separate pages were created and linked.
What tools did you use?
Macromedia Dreamweaver 4, writing in direct html code, Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7, Word for Windows.
What are the main skills required in creating materials like this?
- Fluent Gaelic
- Art and Graphic Design training and experience
- Information technology training in using the software mentioned above and in writing html code
- Strong interest and prior knowledge of the subject matter
Describe any difficulties you experienced and how you went about addressing them.
The main problem that I have encountered is dating of some of the photographs. Sometimes a date is given that spans a 30 to 40 year period. It would be helpful if the information pages for the photos could be developed, but that would be difficult for Scran to do.
What would you do differently next time?
I would break my grouping of picture files in my folders into smaller, more specific topics for greater ease of use.
What hints and tips would you offer to a colleague planning to create a similar resource?
I would recommend that they continually revise the graphic design and content of the site as the verbal content is developed and added. It is not possible to stick to a pre-conceived format as the work develops. New visual-content possibilities appear as logical developments from the verbal content as that develops: the two must evolve together.
Recommendations – please note any reading, software, websites, online courses etc that were useful to you.
There is unfortunately not an abundance of written material about work-ways and material culture for the Gàidhealtachd. I. F. Grant, Highland Folk Ways, is very useful. It is necessary to go the people themselves for more information.
