The Asian Art Museum answers a question about one of their exhibitions. This is similar to American Art’s Ask Joan of Art program but much less formal. I can see this possibly becoming a great way to answer visitor questions about a museum or a specific work of art.
Nina Simon’s latest post on Museum 2.0: Building a Culture of Experimentation
I have just now ordered two copies of my thesis from Lulu, a self publishing service. In honor of that occasion, I thought I would post my abstract here:
Based on personal experience working with teachers and following research done in the areas of museum education theory, object and inquiry based learning, and interdisciplinary and integrated studies; this thesis document explores the ways in which art objects can be used in the history classroom beyond simple illustration of the time period. On the cusp of an era of educational reform, effectively using object and inquiry based learning can bring the classroom curriculum away from test based fact memorization to experiential learning. Through a rigorous use of museum objects in history classrooms, Rhode Island teachers can engage students in the types of learning outlined by the state grade span expectations and begin to teach students skills deemed necessary for participation in a 21st century society. Alongside an examination of art as documents, close looking at objects, and questioning strategies for discussion, I present objects from the collection of the RISD Museum of Art as an example of the relevance of art in a history context.
It has been an intense and very quick year, but I’m happy with how my book has turned out.
Thank you, NAEA! The National Art Education Association responded to the Getty Museum’s recent employee cuts (19 from the education department alone) in a letter that will be published soon in the LA Times. I couldn’t wait for that to happen, so here’s the letter in full. And for those of you that ask what I’m going to do when I graduate with an MA in museum education, this letter articulates the role of museum educators quite well…
See differently. See unexpectedly. See art in a new way.
Today my Contemporary Practices in Arts Learning class was fortunate to hear from the director of the Center for Creative Connections at the Dallas Museum of Art. This space is a fascinating experiment in visitor participation in the art museum. It allows for the educators to develop programming and interpretation practices that can truly engage visitors of all ages.
In an effort to make their operations more transparent, the Dallas Museum of Art has created a dashboard for public viewing detailing all of the museums statistics.
Center for the Future of Museums: Unschooling, Museums & Learning Models for this Century
The Getty has rethought its approach to education and staff were told this morning that a robust docent program will be more cost effective and reach more children than employing gallery teachers. While it may be cost effective, how will this affect the quality of programming? My favorite quote from the article: ”’I think that was unique to the Getty,’ Cuno said, so reassigning the tours to volunteers would bring it in line with the standard practice at other museums.” So good, rather than being original and forward thinking, let’s fall in line with everyone else. The Getty is well known for its education approach. The whole thought process behind paying gallery teachers rather than just using volunteer docents is that gallery teachers go through extensive training and education to bring experiences to visitors beyond the traditional lecture style tour. I will be interested to see how things progress.
In depth, long term, interdisciplinary projects are the result of collaboration between the Addison Gallery of American Art and local teachers. Here are just a few of their projects that promote learning subjects like math through exploring and creating art.
As visitor participation in museums becomes more and more of a hot topic in the field of museum education, Nina Simon and her book The Participatory Museum come up more often. Her name has been mentioned by multiple professionals we have spoken with as we begin to consider ways to reinterpret the sixth floor antiquities, costumes, and textiles collections of the RISD Museum.
In addition to her book, Simon also maintains a blog titled Museum 2.0. Despite my complete lack of time, I hope to keep up with Simon as she explores innovations in museums.
