RACOON - Restauro e conservazione online

The RACOON project will develop a set of online resources to support the joint bachelor in Conservation and Restoration which will be started in 2005 by the three Swiss UAS offering a curriculum in this domain, namely SUPSI, the Fachhoschule Bern and the HES-SO. The project will develop eight modules covering courses during the first two years, for a total of 11 ECTS (of which 50 percent online). However, the partners plan to further extend this model to all courses in the curriculum. Each module will provide on-line study resources, animations and multimedia materials to grasp features of materials and restoration procedures and, finally, communication tools with the teachers.
The added value of the project is substantial. Firstly, it will be possible to develop a set of shared learning resources on conservation and restoration based on complementary competences of the partner schools: the HEAA Arc of La-Chaux-de-Fonds is specialized in archaeology and ethnology; the Hochschule der Künste Bern (HKB) is treating paintings and sculptures, books and modern materials; the Abegg Foundation is world wide famous as a competence centre for textiles and the SUPSI of Lugano is studying plasters, stones, stuccos and gildings. Also, there will be the possibility to access to external resources and to produce interviews with international experts. This will greatly add to the quality and coherence of the study program. Secondly, multimedia resources are very valuable to gain a deep understanding of the materials used in the past, knowing their chemical and physical features, and the production techniques. Moreover, reducing the in class presence time will add flexibility of students; this is important since it is foreseen that some courses will be taught in the future in a single location only. Finally, tutoring tools will bring two benefits: firstly students will be better followed when they absolve the stages outside the school and, secondly, they will get access to more specialized support (for instance a Lugano student might request support on textiles from a tutor from Abegg foundation).