Methods

A short Interview was conducted before the research really took place. Objectives were defined for gaining as much as possible data about buildings, urban places, way of life in the town. Objectives were defined. What the interviewers wanted to achieve was to obtain stories about the town. The type of interview was chosen and who would be the interviewees. Decisions were taken on the type of respondents needed and their characteristics (older people who have lived in the town for decades, who are analytical enough, etc.). It was decided how the interviews would be conducted. Face-to-face, and if the interviews would be recorded or not. It was decided how the sample would be constituted.

  Exploratory learning means learning through exploring environments, reality, and lived and virtual experiences with tutorial and peer-based support. Exploratory learning was the basic method in the project Personal town tours. All partners applied the same method based on setting up research answers and interviewing inhabitants as well as in some cases the intellectual outputs and further small scale projects as well scientific articles were added though not planned initially. The project and its contents became an integrated part of the more permanent U3A’s educational programme Squares, streets and buildings around us.

The method is complex, leading to the final result professionally made short featured film. Since it is a short film it demands a lot of dexterity and substantial intellectual input.