Abstract:

The pandemic has introduced significant adjustments in all areas of life, including education. The new circumstances determined the need to restructure the usual forms of work and communication in all areas. The transition to a distance learning module with a variety of e-tools in synchronous and asynchronous form has become the main challenge in the field of education.

The aim of the research presented in the article is to evaluate the adaptation of the distance learning module to the activity of literary museums and cooperation with visitors. The methods of case analysis and event analysis will allow summarizing various forms and content of the distance learning experience of Latvian literary museums in order to provide proposals on the integration of museum educational activities in the educational process at different levels and their intensification to ensure the relevance of museum activities to lifelong learning. The research question for discussion is how the intensification of digital and distance learning and its use, which was only accelerated by the pandemic, can be efficiently integrated in the acquirement of cultural, historical and literary competences at primary, secondary and higher education levels through links to literary museum activities and e-tools available in the e-environment.

As shown by the identification of the field of initial research, the activity of literary museums and different levels of education are not yet sufficiently integrated processes in the situation of distance learning. The interested parties are not sufficiently aware of the potential of museums. At present, learners, according to Marc Prensky, can be positioned as 'digital natives', meaning that their mother tongue is digital. From an early age, they are accustomed to living in a media environment that significantly affects the way they perceive the information and think. In turn, teachers/lecturers still mostly represent so-called ‘digital immigrants’, whose mother tongue is the printed language and who ‘speak with an accent’ in the digital language.

Literary museums in a virtual environment provide every learner with an opportunity to acquire new cultural territories, gain new experience, find new opportunities for self-expression, communication and cooperation without any special effort - investment of time and financial resources. As digital citizens prefer visual information and hypertext, the virtual tours, exhibitions, visual and audio materials offered by museums can be used efficiently in the teaching/learning process. These tools are focused on the implementation and strengthening of the new paradigm of learning, as they may be successfully used in the improvement of cultural education and competence of creative expression, digital and media competences and promotion of creative work.

Keywords:

Literary museums, distance and digital learning, cultural education, digital and media competences, e-tools.