Course presented by the University of Bordeaux:

"ITAP Project": Enhancing the learning of evolutionary anthropology skills by combining student-active teaching with physical and virtual immersion in archeological fieldwork, laboratory practice and dissemination.

Training students in evolutionary anthropology requires that we provide them with a thorough knowledge of biological and cultural heritage sites and collections that are frequently inaccessible. Indeed, most archeological sites, fossils, and remains can be visited or handled only rarely and only by specialists with extensive experience. Thanks to the development of 3D imaging techniques, this fragile heritage is now more widely accessible. However, solely relying on virtual learning can negatively impact student engagement and exchanges with instructors, making it an undesirable standalone teaching method. 

To encourage student engagement and enhance their acquisition of new professional and interdisciplinary skills, we therefore offer Master’s students in archeological sciences at the University of Bordeaux reallife situations in archeological fieldwork (inclusion in scientific teams and participation in excavations), laboratory studies (participation in teams and workshops at the PACEA laboratory), and dissemination of research results (organizing symposia). To enable students to work with resources and train in otherwise inaccessible methods, we complement this physical immersion with virtual access to research activities (immersive videos in the field and in the laboratory), and to archeological, experimental or reference materials (microtomographic and photogrammetric 3D models, surface scans, 2D X-rays, photographs).

Contact: Priscilla Bayle, priscilla.bayle@u-bordeaux.fr