The Future of Education

The country's heritage is not limited to exceptional historical, natural or artistic values. Heritage can be attributed to the objects of everyday life, which, perhaps without realizing and naming it, local people consider exclusive and important to a person’s or communal identity. In this study, we present how digitalization of unique culture and popular science and engineering solutions can be planned, organized and developed. Based on the experience of the best virtual field trips, we research the case of Visaginas city and the strategic object of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, which is still important for Lithuania. Visaginas is a relatively young city founded nearby the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant. For more than ten years after the decommissioning of the nuclear reactors, the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant remains one of the largest companies in the region, employing around 2,000 workers. The mission of this enterprise is a safe and timely implementation of a globally unprecedented project by efficiently using its resources to decommission the Nuclear Power Plant, which operated special type reactors. Due to its specificity, the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant is not only strategically important but also a unique heritage object of Lithuania. Nuclear tourism in the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant region can take place not only live (on arrival) but also virtually. An object of strategic importance to the public can be presented using modern educational technologies and social media. At the same time, it is also important to present the history and identity of the city, in connection with the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant facing changes during its closure and decommissioning. For heritage reconstruction, we recommend creating a nuclear educational tour using 360 panoramas and a virtual tour technique. In order to promote science and educate the public, we recommend visualizing the ongoing and stopped processes in the Nuclear Power Plant and developing interactive explanatory schemes and routes. This would attract Lithuanian and foreign tourists to the region. Nuclear education for different age groups would take place.

Keywords: city identity, heritage conservation, Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, nuclear education route, educational tourism, virtual tour, Visaginas.

References:
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https://rbb85.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/laurajane-smith-uses-of-heritage.pdf