Izzy: Digital Learning Officer

Can you introduce yourself?

I am Izzy

I work as the Digital Learning Officer for Leeds Museums and Galleries

What is your job?

My job is in two halves

The first half is managing a website called MyLearning.org where we host learning resources created by arts, cultural and heritage organisations from across England for teachers

The other half is about digital interpretation across the exhibitions and galleries at our eight different sites

What do you do in your job?

On the MyLearning side, we work internally and with external organisations to get different stories onto the website

On the digital side, in the galleries, we run fun digital workshops for families and students

How did you get your job and what is your background?

I did an undergraduate degree in Environmental Science

Then I went to Thailand to volunteer in environmental education. It was a hands-on role

Back in England, I completed a teaching qualification and taught in England and Sudan

Then back in Thailand, I did outdoor adventure work and coordinated trips for students

I came back and completed a part-time master's in Cultural Heritage Management, then from my different educational experiences I got the job here

What do you like about your job?

The variety of things to do

I work and learn from external companies

I work with an amazing team of people

I get to learn from specialists such as curators of archaeology

I learn something new every day

What is some advice on how to get a job like yours, and to work in a museum setting?

There are lots of different aspects to working in a museum and a wide variety of jobs that can be done

At Leeds Museums and Galleries, we have paid project placements and internships, so look out for those opportunities because they get you in the door

What are the benefits from working in a museum setting?

At Leeds Museums and Galleries, we have eight different sites, and I work across all of them

The people I work with are another highlight

What is your favourite site you work at?

Here at the Discovery Centre, we have the museum store where the vast majority of our objects are stored in open display

I can walk in there and just be surrounded by all different kinds of objects from all different walks of life and different ages

Jonathan: Digital Learning Officer

Can you introduce yourself?

Hi, I am Jonathan

I am the Digital Learning Officer at Leeds Museums and Galleries

What is your job?

As the Digital Learning Officer, I am responsible for a learning resource website we have called MyLearning

What do you do in your job?

Part of my role is to make sure that the resources we have there share parts of our collection, but also collections and heritage content from other institutions around the country, out to the wider public and mostly into classrooms

We work with curators, other learning staff, community teams and lots of different types of people to make sure that the content we put on the website is good quality

How did you get your job and what is your background?

Originally, I studied Fine Art, specialising in Sculpture

Then, I completed an MFA (Master of Fine Art) in Computational Studio Arts

Following that, I worked a lot in museums and art galleries delivering art workshops and bringing technology into learning. A big component of this was storytelling

Because of the skills I had built up, it was quite easy for me to talk about all the different aspects of the role when applying for this job

What do you like about your job?

I really enjoy working with lots of different types of people

I also enjoy researching and understanding the background to many of the objects that we have in our store

Learning from the curators here and the wider team is absolutely fantastic

What is some advice on how to get a job like yours, and to work in a museum setting?

Stay curious, visit museums and build up skills

Make sure to get in touch with museums and communicate your skills

Don't feel that you are not able to contribute. Museums need lots of different types of people, and there is space for lots of different skill sets that are not generally seen in museums but should be acknowledged more

What are the benefits from working in a museum setting?

Everything we do is fascinating

It allows us to think about ideas and where humans have come from

If you are looking at subjects like the Stone Age and then further through history, such as the Romans and the Victorian age, you begin to see how civilisations have changed

We also look at more present-day objects in our collections that discuss subjects such as past race riots or events like the Olympics

There is a huge range of subjects we learn about and work with, which is very exciting

What is your favourite site you work at?

I work across all the sites, but the site I work at most is the Discovery Centre

This is probably my favourite site because it holds the collection store, so there is no end to the different types of objects I can find when I go into the store

There is never a time I go in there and do not find something completely new to me that makes me want to do more research and learn about it