Rethinking Museum Learning
Museums have tremendous potential to be rich sources for family and personal learning, yet it’s a challenge to create programs where learning is on the visitors’ terms, not the museum’s. It’s visitors who should decide how and what they will learn and decide how to engage (or not) with exhibits and programs.
Creating learning programs with the learner’s agenda at the core is central to museum program design—a challenge for educators given the need for using set of design strategies that differ from traditional K-12 and higher education program design. That's why I created this webpage, to help those interested in creating museum learning programs use sound learning design strategies. I adapted my approach to course design by incorporating pedagogically sound learning principles along with strategies that meet the unique needs of museum visitors, since learning that happens in museums is not controlled by the institution but the visitor. I share on this webpage my strategies and findings. They include:
1) Seven need-to-have components for museum programs
2) Design principles and top three design strategies for museum programs
3) Examples of museum learning programs I’ve developed by category (coming soon)
4) K-12 education program for museums (coming soon).
Defining Museum Learning Programs
Before outlining the seven components to consider before developing learning programs for museums, I'll clarify the term museum learning programs, which refers to programs designed for individuals, families, or groups that include:
Museum education for school groups—K-12 students, requires yet another approach to curriculum design; which I address in the K-12 Museum Education section.
Creating learning programs with the learner’s agenda at the core is central to museum program design—a challenge for educators given the need for using set of design strategies that differ from traditional K-12 and higher education program design. That's why I created this webpage, to help those interested in creating museum learning programs use sound learning design strategies. I adapted my approach to course design by incorporating pedagogically sound learning principles along with strategies that meet the unique needs of museum visitors, since learning that happens in museums is not controlled by the institution but the visitor. I share on this webpage my strategies and findings. They include:
1) Seven need-to-have components for museum programs
2) Design principles and top three design strategies for museum programs
3) Examples of museum learning programs I’ve developed by category (coming soon)
4) K-12 education program for museums (coming soon).
Defining Museum Learning Programs
Before outlining the seven components to consider before developing learning programs for museums, I'll clarify the term museum learning programs, which refers to programs designed for individuals, families, or groups that include:
- Self-directed tours or learning experiences using tools such as phone apps, audio guides, printed or web-based materials
- Workshops or courses guided by museum staff or volunteers
- Museum tours guided by a facilitator (museum staff member, volunteer or museum visitor)
- Museum tours: online or virtual tours using museum’s app or web platform
- Learning experiences with exhibits or collections that include interactive and/or guided learning components
Museum education for school groups—K-12 students, requires yet another approach to curriculum design; which I address in the K-12 Museum Education section.
Visitors at a modern art museum hanging out on cushions in a gallery space. Question: Are the young people pictured engaging in a museum learning experience? Why or why not? I suggest it is; museum professionals need to re-think what learning is and how it happens
Seven Need-to-Have Components for Museum Programs
- Be flexible and adaptable to accommodate visitors’ motivations, needs and reasons for their museum visit. Allow for and acknowledge there will be different outcomes.
- Use a framework. Even though flexibility is a core element, a framework provides structure by using facilitators, instructions and/or media, and content such as artifacts and materials—this guides the visitors experience, helping to meet their needs and goals.
- Include orientation. Orientation prepares visitors by establishing a positive, non-intimidating experience that puts visitors in control, equipping them to get their needs met. Orientation incudes: telling visitors what the program is about, its purpose, length, how to participate, and allows visitors to customize their experience.
- Use conversational language for instructions and/or descriptions that are approachable and friendly. The tone of text (labels for example) 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, clear, and avoid scholarly and technical terms.
- Support active experiences where visitors are exposed to non-intimidating, fun and engaging experiences using museum content (collections, exhibits, materials) that can be touched, manipulated, written on, discussed and/or spoken about. Visitors should not be observers, but participants.
- Allow for visitors to take on different roles within a self-guided activity. Let visitors negotiate among themselves who take on roles within an activity, e.g. leader, facilitator, participant, etc. Design programs that allow children or non-experts to take on leadership roles; doing so supports growth and learning on the visitors’ terms.
- Be informal. Programs should come across as relaxed and fun, not like traditional ‘school’ experiences that are rigid and directive. Allow visitors to feel in control of their experience.
Design Principles for Museums Learning Programs
When designing learning programs for museums, I still rely on core design principles I’ve used for the majority of learning programs. I start by:
- determining the purpose of the program
- identifying the intended audience
- establishing the learning goals and aims.
Museum learning programs as mentioned still require a framework that should include one or more goals, but leave it open for visitors to include their learning goals. For example in a gallery activity I designed that tells the story of American Bison through works of art, I included a specific goal like this one:
- Program Goal: Discuss artists’ process for creating art of historical events and practices that tell stories
Yet I also included a goal specific to each family or group:
- Visitor-Directed Goal: Discuss how storytelling methods are used in your (participants’) family and/or friend group
For further guidance on course design, you may find some applicable resources in the online course design section.
Three Design Strategies for Museum Learning
There are few learning design frameworks specific to museum learning, yet principles at the site engagefamilies.org, a project of the USS Constitution Museum, provides helpful and pedagogically-sound learning strategies specific to museum learning. The strategies were developed as part of a study with the National Science Foundation by the USS Constitution Museum and provide (at the very least) a starting point for museum program design. The site includes nine design strategies for creating engaging and interactive museum programs, and several examples from other museums that have incorporated the design strategies into their own programs. See my examples also.
Not all nine strategies at engagingfamlies.org are applicable to every museum learning program, yet there are three I suggest should be included in ALL museum learning programs and exhibits.
1) Encourage Conversation
Creating conditions for interaction by encouraging visitors to discuss and think about what they are experiencing supports engagement, critical thinking and learning. Conversation strategies can be applied to museum labels, tours, self-guided materials, group and/or family activities. This allows visitors’ to be participants in their experience, not passive bystanders.
Application: Consider incorporating questions into programs or exhibits: ask visitors to share their ideas or thoughts within their own visitor group, on a facilitated tour, on a digital or physical bulletin board, or even by posing questions and asking visitors to ‘think about’ an idea or concept. As a docent at a house museum, I always ask questions throughout my tour and find that visitors open up and share their own experiences, yet I introduce to visitors what I'll be doing (see point #3 in the 'Seven Must Have Components' above), at the beginning of the tour by saying, "This is an interactive tour, and I encourage you to ask questions throughout the tour, and I might also ask questions of you, not to put you on the spot, but for us to have a thoughtful conversation about what we're going to see."
2) Make it Relevant
Making connections between visitors’ museum experience and their own lives is critical. Easier said than done, but implementing this strategy helps visitors see how the museum’s content (exhibits, artifacts, concepts, etc.) applies to things that matter to them. The concept of relevance is perhaps the most important element of museum experiences; if visitors can’t relate to an exhibit or program and see how it relates to their own experiences or life, what’s the point?
Application: In a family activity, I like to incorporate a question that encourages families as to discuss a concept using examples from their own family experience. For instance a questions such as:
“Discuss how your family shares stories about family events or milestones? For example, it might be through pictures on Facebook, videos or shared verbally with others at family events”.
Museum exhibits should also be relevant; visitors should be able to see or at least consider how concepts and ideas in the exhibit relate to their lives. This can be accomplished by posing questions, getting visitors to share their impressions of the exhibit either by a written form of expression within the museum or through discussion.
3) Create Multi-outcome Experiences
This strategy is based on visitors being active and engaging with museum content in some way (through an activity or conversation for instance), and that the outcome, how the visitor responds, reacts or learns for instance to his or her experience is different for each.
This multi-outcome strategy is also based on the idea 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.
Application: With the museum-guided tours I do at a house museum, I aim to customize the experience for visitors by asking at the beginning of the tour 'what brings you to the museum today'. I ask other questions to try to determine their purpose for their visit, what they want to learn and focus on. This strategy means I need to be more flexible, which means at time that I'm less polished, but it does deliver a unique tour each time, I avoid giving the 'canned' tour--the same tour for each visitor.
For examples of how I incorporate the strategies, see Examples: Museum Learning Programs