Museums hold great potential to be rich sources for family and personal learning. Learner-centered programming helps visitors engage and create meaningful museum experiences on their own terms. Yet most museum learning programs and tools are based on traditional learning theories used in K–12 and higher education.
 
​Museum learning needs to be different. Cultural institutions need to give visitors ownership of their learning experience.  Visitors need to be in charge—not as passive observers but as active agents. In this scenario learning becomes open-ended and unmeasurable by the museum, yet outcomes include higher levels of engagement and satisfaction.

Following are strategies specific to museum program design that fuse two methods: 1) curriculum design fundamentals based on sound pedagogy used for K–12, higher education and adult learning, and, 2) design fundamentals of museum learning with principles borrowed from Engaged Families, a museum project created by the USS Constitution Museum.

Group from "Museum Hack", a company that gives small group tours

I. Begin with Questions

In the initial stages of design, the needs analysis phase (see tab Course Design Strategies), I always start with a set of questions:
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1. What is the purpose of the program?
2. Who is the intended audience/learners?
3. What are the learning aims or objectives? .

This last question may appear counterintuitive given that I stated earlier that it is the learner who determines the learning goals in museum learning, but, objectives in museum programming are twofold and include: 1) objectives for the facilitator (whoever or whatever medium is delivering content to visitors), and 2) open-ended aims for visitors/learners. 

The two layers of objectives work in tandem where the facilitator (either person or a medium) objectives create an environment that allows visitors to create their own learning experience thus achieving their personal aims and objectives.

Example of a two-fold objective:
This set of objectives (below) is pulled from a facilitator's guide for a guided art tour that focused on works of art showing the American bison hunt. Note that the facilitator objectives are in the form of instructions.

• Facilitator Objective: 1) Describe to visitors the artist's purpose for creating the paintings that depict the bison hunt. 2) Describe the artist’s life experiences that informed these works.
• ​To support visitors' learning goals, [facilitator] pose the questions: 1) "These paintings are examples of storytelling. Take a moment to discuss within your group or with your partner how storytelling methods are used in your family and/or friend group", 2) "How do the artist's methods compare to yours for sharing stories?"

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II. Incorporate Active Learning

In the design phase incorporate active learning strategies to engage learners—essential for informal learning which is inherent to museum visits.
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1) Encourage conversation.
Create conditions for interaction by encouraging visitors to talk and share about what they are experiencing. Use open-ended questions to support engagement, critical thinking, and learning.  Questioning strategies can be applied to museum labels, tours, self-guided materials, and group and/or family activities.

Suggestions for encouraging conversation: 

• Add questions to museum labels, audio tours, and exhibit texts that encourage visitors to share ideas or thoughts within their own visitor group, or for solo visitors to consider. 
• ​Ask questions on a physical bulletin board within an exhibit and allow visitors to post responses.
• Ask visitors to share thoughts and/or pictures on social media, guided by a specific question about an artifact.
• For solo participants, incorporate questions to "think about" or "ponder."
• On guided tours, aim to get participants talking for at least one-third of the tour by asking open-ended questions that prompt discussion within a large group or visitors’ own groups.

The Perot Museum in Dallas, TX creates unique ways to encourage visitor engagement and spark conversation.

2)  Make it relevant.
Prompt visitors to make connections between the museum experience and their own life experiences. This is a core fundamental of adult learning theory and is applicable to families or younger learners who can "see" how the museum’s content (exhibits, artifacts, concepts, etc.) applies to things that matter to them.  Relevance is the most important element of a museum experience; if visitors can’t relate to an exhibit or program and see how it relates to their own lives, what’s the point?  

Suggestions for making it relevant: 

• In a group setting, whether virtually or in person, ask questions that encourage participants to consider or share a personal experience or thought that relates to their visit experience or a museum artifact/exhibit.
• In a group activity, encourage participants to discuss how an artifact or experience depicts something similar or different from their own experience. For example, "How does this painting showing a picnic compare to a picnic or gathering that you have experienced?"
• Juxtapose artifacts from different cultures and/or time periods, and pose questions for visitors that encourage them to draw their own conclusions about similarities and differences.

​3) Allow for multi-outcome experiences.
This strategy is based on visitors being active and engaged with the museum, which allows for outcomes that depend on how the visitor responds to and engages with the content—"content" can be a facilitator, artifact labels, physical or digital tools.
This multi-outcome strategy is based on the concept that the visitor is in control—he or she is directing his or her museum experience. Creating learning programs or exhibits with this strategy at the beginning of the design process supports a visitor-centric experience.

Suggestions for multi-outcome experiences: 

• Museum labels that prompt questions for visitors to think about or discuss with members of their group and/or to consider after they leave the museum. 
  
• Create experiences via labels or digital applications that guide visitors to other artifacts or tools within the museum for further discovery based on their responses.
• Provide digital tours that are customized to visitors' responses via a short survey at the beginning of the tour​ that surveys their interests.

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Selfie Museum in LA is on the cutting edge of relevance in our selfie-driven media culture.

III. Consider 7 Best Practices 

During the design phase of the learning program, consider the following best practices, which are specific to museum learning.

1. Be flexible and adaptable to accommodate visitors’ motivations, needs, and reasons for their museum visit.
2. Start with a framework or instructional design model. Even though flexibility needs to be central to museum learning, a design model provides structure for the development of the program and ultimately for facilitators and/or gallery materials.
3. ​Include orientation to your program. Doing so establishes a positive, non-intimidating experience and signals that the visitor is in control. Ideally it will include: what the program is about, the length, how to participate, and options for customization.
4. Use conversational language for instructions or descriptions. The tone of the text or audio should come across as if you are speaking to the visitor; embedding words like "you" creates a bond between the museum and visitors. Be concise and avoid scholarly and technical terms.
5. Encourage active experiences where visitors engage one or more of their five senses.
6. Allow visitors to take on different roles within a self-guided activity. Let visitors negotiate among themselves about who will be the leader, facilitator, participant, etc. Design programs that allow children or non-experts to take on leadership roles, which supports growth and learning.
7.  Be informal. Programs should be relaxed and fun. Museums should not be associated with traditional (and rigid) "school" experiences, but should allow visitors to feel in control of the experience.

Examples Museum Learning Programs