The Top 5 Museum Education Resources To Follow
What are your go-to resources for improving your museum education work? Below are the top five online resources I follow to stay on top of trends in the industry.
Below you’ll find my pick for quality webinars, a couple of go-tos for trending topics, and my top pick for inspiring and educating museum educators.
Ready? Let’s dive in!
Museum Education Roundtable
Just a couple of my many issues of the Journal of Museum Education, published by the Museum Education Roundtable
If I could only pick one resource for educating the museum educator, MER would be it. The Museum Education Roundtable is an organization that supports the professional development of museum educators across the globe. According to their website, “MER is on an organizational quest to inform, engage and inspire through compelling educational experiences.” To meet their mission, MER publishes the only American journal that focuses on the theories and practices of museum education. This journal was initially published under a different title in the 1970s and has been in publication since. Reading this journal is a must for any serious museum educator. It is filled with case-studies that will inspire and encourage, as well as pieces on trending topics, educational theories, and much more. Subscription to the journal is included with membership in MER.
But even if you don’t join MER (individual memberships are $50 for one year) , you can still access their blog online, which is also full of quality posts that will encourage you to be bolder and think bigger when planning your educational programs.
Find out more at http://www.museumedu.org/.
Cuseum
Screenshot of the webinar page of Cusuem’s website
Founded in 2014, Cuseum is a tech company that works with museums and cultural institutions to provide digital services, like mobile guides, digital memberships, and even augmented reality. While their products and services are world-class, what really sets Cuseum apart as a business to follow is their ongoing series of webinars.
Particularly during the challenges of 2020, Cuseum’s webinars offered support, ideas, and good advice for museums.
The webinars, which are available on their website, are expertly hosted and filled with panelists from a wide-range of institutions. The diversity of their panelists alone makes them worth the time, but I also found that Cuseum’s founder, Brendan Ciecko, is a master at facilitating online webinars (which, as we all learned while trying to remotely attend conferences due to Covid, is no easy feat).
You can learn more about Cuseum at https://cuseum.com/.
Museum Savvy
Screenshot of Museum’s Savvy’s recent post of available job listings
Museum Savvy is a relatively new website that was begun in February 2020, but it is a great roundup of lots of information for museum professionals, including professional organizations, museum studies programs, and even job listings. According to the website, the author, Jeannine Pedersen-Guzman has a 25-year career in the public history field, and the broad range of her work shows in the far-reaching resources she has collected.
While not specific to museum educators, Museum Savvy offers links to great resources, articles, and professional development opportunities across the United States and Canada.
Check it out for yourself at http://museumsavvy.com/index.html
ArtMuseum Teaching
Screenshot of ArtMuseum Teaching’s homepage
ArtMuseum Teaching is a fantastic resource for all museum educators, even those who work in disciplines other than art. According to their about page, “Launched in 2011, ArtMuseumTeaching aims to connect museum professionals, leading thinkers, communities, educators, ideas, and resources around a dialogue about what we do in our practice.” As a forum that invites collaboration from a number of authors, this website is a valuable source of inspiration that invites you to reflect on important trends in our industry. With particular emphasis on leadership, trauma-informed learning, and inclusive practices, this website will give you a lot to think about.
If you take the time to dig through this extensive resource, you will find not only high-level discussions of the nature of museum work, but also well-written and researched articles on best practices.
Read more at https://artmuseumteaching.com/
Looking Back, Moving Forward in Museum Education
Screenshot of Looking Back, Moving Forward’s Facebook page
Looking Back, Moving Forward is one museum educator’s reflections on the profession. Written by Lindsey Steward-Goldberg, this no-frills blog is filled with reviews, impressions, recommendations, and reactions to a variety of public history topics dating back to 2016. Although it claims to specifically target museum education, overall the website’s content is broader and offers much to consider about the nature of museum work.
For me, the major strength of Looking Back, Moving Forward is the accessible way the author reacts to and presents highly academic concepts. While it doesn’t offer a lot of practical tips, it is a great resource for following trends in the field.
Stay up on recent trends by following https://lookingbackmovingforwardinmuseumeducation.com/
To Sum Up
If you’re a skimmer and skipped to the end, here are the main takeaways
If you only follow one organization, make it the Museum Education Roundtable.
Get on Cuseum’s email list to be in the know when they host new webinars.
If you have time to dig around, you’ll likely find some great links to professional development articles and opportunities at Museum Savvy.
Give yourself half an hour and check out ArtMuseum Teaching, no matter what your discipline is. You’ll absolutely find a thought-provoking and well-researched blog post.
Looking for a quick round-up of timely topics of interest in the museum field? Follow Looking Back, Moving Forward in Museum Education.
But, as you can see from these great resources, the online supports dedicated specifically to tips and time-savers for museum educators are slim. Most online support is aimed at a broader museum audience, or focuses generally on high-level thought exercises and philosophies. At Modern Museum Education, my goal is to point trending topics directly at the practical matters of daily museum education work.
Let’s get real about topics such as leadership, inclusion, equity, and empathy, and explore how we can easily incorporate them into the hands-on activities and lessons we spend our days planning and facilitating. I’d be honored if you’d follow and join the conversation with me.
Looking for more resources?
Join my growing email community for reliable round-ups of leading trends to consider and hopeful encouragement from someone in the field! As a bonus, you’ll get access to my online Educator Resource Library.