Teaching with Digital Exhibits: Designing Exhibit Assignments

Creating a digital exhibit is more than just uploading content. It requires students to think about curation, storytelling, design, and accessibility. When designing an exhibit assignment, consider the following:

• Providing structured guidance: Exhibits involve multiple skills (research, multimedia, metadata, and organization), so breaking the assignment into phases can help.
• Training and resources: Offer students tutorials or class time to explore exhibit platforms before diving into their projects.
• Exhibit purpose and audience: Have students consider who will view their exhibit and tailor their content accordingly

View our Library Integration page to learn how a librarian can help teach these concepts, as well as the student guide that provides additional resources on finding and citing digital images.

Design and Mapping Structure

The way an exhibit is structured shapes how users engage with it. Encourage students to think about navigation, layout, and user experience.

• Should the exhibit follow a linear path or be more interactive and exploratory?
• How do the visual balance, accessibility, and clear sectioning all contribute to an effective design?

Metadata and Curation

Metadata ensures that digital exhibits are searchable, organized, and informative. Students should learn to tag, describe, and categorize materials to enhance usability. Platforms like Collective Access support structured metadata, while website builders like Wix and Weebly require manual labeling. Even simple descriptions can improve how users understand an exhibit’s content.

Copyright

Students need to be mindful of copyright laws and fair use when incorporating images, maps, and media into their exhibits. Using public domain materials, Creative Commons-licensed works, or institutional archives ensures ethical content use. If copyrighted material is necessary, students should assess whether their use qualifies as transformative or educational.

All of the following examples are adaptable to fit the desired type of digital exhibit and a variety of hosting platforms.

• Month Long Digital Exhibit, Trinity College

Requiring students to represent a physical space in a digital exhibit, this assignment covers a month of class time allowing students to learn the ins and outs of digital exhibits by focusing on a familiar subject.

• Semester Long Storymapping Project, University of Minnesota

This template for a Semester Long Storymap project—in lieu of a traditional 8 to 10 page research paper—provides scaffolded assignments to help students plan and prepare throughout the semester. Visit the U of M page for more assignment descriptions for week, month and semester long digital exhibit projects.

• Website Building Digital Exhibit Project, Northern Virginia Community College

Requiring students to build a website on using a tool such as Weebly, this assignment has students build a digital exhibition for a museum, library, archive or historical society.