Developing Users’ Soft Skills in Higher Education Through University Painting Collections: The Tito Rossini Project

The Tito Rossini initiative is a project promoted by the Centre for Museum Studies based at Dept. of Education - University Roma Tre (Italy), where, starting from the promotion of Tito Rossini’s paintings collected and exhibited at the University premises, a specific fruition programme has been designed by the master students attending the module “Experimentalism, Museum and Reading”. The main aims of the designed museum educational programme were: to create interactive tools for the fruition of Rossini’s works of art; to increase visitors’ knowledge about Rossini and his collection exhibited at the University, to promote visitors 4C skills (communication, creativity, collaboration and critical thinking). In order to create an engaging user’s experience, different tools for cultural mediation were realized for each Rossini’s painting under investigation: a description, a brief audio narrative (linked to a QR code) inspired by the artwork (text also in Braille Code) and a music soundtrack played by the students themselves participating in the project. Specific assessment tools were designed and used in the museum educational programme.