Museum Educators’ Unrealized Potential

The museum blogosphere in the past few weeks has been filled with postings related to the work of museum educators and the role of museums as educational institutions. Rebecca Herz has posted a number of articles and interviews with teachers and museum educators on her blog Museum Questions.  Rebecca is examining from many angles the…

Museum Educators Next, Part IV: Impact Where it Counts

This post, the fourth in a series on what’s next for museum educators, proposes the mastery of interpretive planning, a process that shapes what is still the central role of most museums – exhibition development and display. Interpretive Planning on the Institutional Level  “Interpretive planning” is a fairly elastic term in the museum context.  In…

Museum Educators Next, Part III: Incorporating Visitor Voices

In my first two posts regarding what’s next for museum educators (September 17 and October 1) I promised to take a look at some of the skills educators should be cultivating so that they can contribute more effectively to the museum’s role as an informal space for learning and engagement.  It happens that I’ve been talking with Allison Wickens, an energetic…