21st Century Skills Development
Active learning requires an active application of heart, mind, body, and spirit. While mid-20th century libraries were quiet spaces for reading and research, 21st century libraries are spaces for engagement, exploration, experimentation, and entrepreneurship.
The Dorcas Learning Center is a playful space to indulge our curiosity, to practice and master collaborative skills [both face-to-face and using technology], to stimulate individual creativity, to innovate, and to solve problems.
Content Creation
Here at the Dorcas Learning Center, we encourage people to read, think, question, write, create, make, photograph, film, document, analyze, compose, play, and participate!
The Dorcas Learning Center [DLC] is a perfect place for people to have free access to technology, tools, resources, or supplies for innovation, invention, and creation.
Lost Arts Re-Invented
Mainers have always made what we could not buy. But certain skills have disappeared as “modern ways” crept in to our Downeast lifestyle. For example, lobster trap technology has changed from home-built traps of wood and handwoven netting, to manufactured metal traps.
The Dorcas Learning Center will connect our elder craftspeople with interested young people, creating new products and art forms from historical crafts and trades.
Many in our elder community are master bakers. Many in our teen community have asked about learning to cook. Let’s get these groups together!
We have an active group of textile artists in the Schoodic community. We have youth who want to use these technologies to create costumes and art in their own taste. Let’s link these groups together!
Many master musicians are eager to play and learn together, to pass along musical traditions, and to create collaborative musical forms. The Dorcas Learning Center will provide a space for musical collaboration, digital recording, and the passing of individual and collective musical experiences.
Genealogy for Everyone!
Generational families in our region have boxes and trunks of improperly stored photographs, films, and recordings. Family historians and genealogists need help creating digital archives for their research, photographs, and supporting documents. Younger community members need hands-on experience in digital preservation, web design, and digital curation. Let’s get these groups together!
Our Indigenous Peoples have lost so much of their heritage. They continue to lose languages, as elders pass on. Furthermore, much history has been deliberately destroyed during subsequent waves of genocide. How can Dorcas Learning Center resources be used to support and sustain the history, art, and culture of local Indigenous Nations?
Sustainable Economic Development
Selectmen and our town manager are asking for greater community involvement. Social services funding is being cut in our region, including funding for schools and libraries. As a community, we face a variety of challenges, including food insecurity, a growing senior population, and massive opioid epidemic.
Can the Dorcas Learning Center reignite community involvement?
- What needs can community members see beyond those listed here?
- What type of community do members want to build for future generations?
- How can individuals and groups meet, learn, and solve these needs?
- How can we reinvigorate and inspire our community at large?
