From Physical to Digital, Recent Research into the Discovery, Analysis, and Use of Museums Resources by Teachers and Students
PaperDarren Milligan, Smithsonian Institution, USA, Melissa Wadman, Smithsonian Institution, USA
Published paper: From physical to digital: Recent research into the discovery, analysis, and use of museums resources by classroom educators and students
Museums have long identified teachers and their students as primary audiences. Through object loans, lesson plans, and more recently digital resources, our institutions have recognized the potential for the narratives told through exhibitions to reach students outside the museum walls. Many of these traditional models no longer reflect the realities of the contemporary classroom, one being rapidly transformed by budget shortcomings, evolving teaching standards, and the potential of new technologies. Museums are uniquely positioned to play a greater role in formal education. In order to meet this potential, museums can benefit from understanding the needs of these audiences and the capabilities of their institutions to meet them.
Since 2010, the Smithsonian, through its Center for Learning and Digital Access, has conducted a series of research projects to better understand how teachers and their students use museum learning resources. This formal paper will share the results of the following five independent, yet progressional, studies and offer usable best practices garnered from a meta-analysis of their results combined with other recent literature in this field:
1. Remedial Evaluation of the Materials Distributed at the Smithsonian Institution’s Annual Teachers’ Night (2010)
2. Capturing the Voice of Customer, a Satisfaction Insight Review of SmithsonianEducation.org (2011)
3. Digital Learning Resources Project (2012)
4. Increasing the Discoverability of Smithsonian Digital Resources: Learning Resource Metadata Initiative (LRMI) (2014)
5. Piloting Tools to Enable Active and Participatory Learning for Middle School Students: Facilitating Digital Learning with Smithsonian Digital Resources (2014)
A meta-summary of these research findings, combined with recent literature, will be shared as a suite of best practices for connecting museum assets with teachers and students.
Bibliography:
Potential References for Published Paper:
1-
Bordac, S., Brucken, C., Blanshay, L., Geft, L., & Samuels, E. (2003) ‘Developing Online Teachers’ Resources at the Museum of Tolerance: A Case Study in Innovation and Evolution’ in D. Bearman & J. Trant (eds) Museums and the Web 2003 Proceedings. [CD ROM]. Archives & Museum Informatics, 2003. [2008, November 12] http://www.archimuse.com/mw2003/papers/bordac/bordac.html
Borland, C. (1997) ‘ArtsEdNet: Assessing an arts education website’ in D. Bearman & J. Trant (eds) Museums and the Web 1997 Proceedings. [CD ROM]. Archives & Museum Informatics, 1997. [2008, November 12]. http://www.archimuse.com/mw97/speak/borland.htm
Buffington, M. (2007, May) ‘How do Teachers and Students Use Museum Websites?’ Talk presented at the American Association of Museums Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL.
Cunliffe, D. Kritou, E. & Tudhope, D. (2001). ‘Usability evaluation for museum websites’, Museum Management and Curatorship, 19
Gyllenhaal, E. D., & Schaefer, J. (2002) ‘Front-end evaluation of the On-line Teacher Resources project: Final report’, unpublished manuscript, John G. Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, IL. http://selindaresearch.com/SheddOnlineTeacherResourcesFront-End.pdf
Gyllenhaal, E. D., Beaumont, L., & Tyree, A. (2003) ‘Formative evaluation of the On-line Teacher Resources Project: Final report’, unpublished manuscript, John G. Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, IL. http://www.selindaresearch.com/SheddOnlineTeacherResourcesFormative.pdf
Harm, I. & W. Schweibenz (2001) ‘Evaluating the Usability of a Museum Website’ in D. Bearman & J. Trant (eds) Museums and the Web 2001 Proceedings. CD ROM. Archives & Museum Informatics, 2001. http://www.archimuse.com/mw2001/papers/schweibenz/schweibenz.html
Keevil, B. (1998) ‘Measuring the usability index of your website’, paper presented at the annual Special Interest Group on Systems Documentation, Quebec City, Quebec.
Koyani, S. J., Bailey, R. W., & Nall, J. R. (2003) Research-based web design & usability guidelines. Washington, D.C.: United States Department of Health and Human Services. http://www.usability.gov/pdfs/guidelines.html
Rockman, S. (2005) ‘Assessing the outcomes of interactive websites’ in Proceedings of Web Designs for Interactive Learning Conference, Website evaluation (pp 2-11) Ithaca, NY: Cornell Lab of Ornithology and The Exploratorium. http://www.rockman.com/publications/articles/Assessing_the_Outcomes.pdf
Wetterlund, K. (May, 2007) ‘How do Teachers and Students Use Museum Websites?’ Talk presented at the American Association of Museums Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL.
3-
Project wiki: http://smithsonian-digital-learning.wikispaces.com/
Milligan, D. et al. (2012) ‘Digital Learning Resources Project, Volume I, Review of Literature’. Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies. October 2012. Consulted September 30, 2014. http://smithsonian-digital-learning.wikispaces.com/file/view/DLRP_Volume-I_Literature-Review.pdf
Milligan, D. et al. (2012) ‘Digital Learning Resources Project, Volume II, Environmental Scan’. Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies. October 2012. Consulted September 30, 2014. http://smithsonian-digital-learning.wikispaces.com/file/view/DLRP_Volume-2_Environmental-Scan.pdf
Milligan, D. et al. (2012) ‘Digital Learning Resources Project, Volume V, Final Report’. Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies. October 2012. Consulted September 30, 2014. http://smithsonian-digital-learning.wikispaces.com/file/view/DLRP_Volume-5_Final-Report.pdf
4-
Purcell, Kristen. (2013) How Teachers Are Using Technology at Home and in Their Classrooms. Pew Internet & American Life Project, February 28, 2013, http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Teachers-and-technology.aspx, accessed on July 18, 2013.
The Link Between Metadata and Sales (2012) - Nielsen UK ISBN Agency. 2012. http://www.isbn.nielsenbook.co.uk/uploads/3971_Nielsen_Metadata_white_paper_A4(3).pdf, accessed July 30, 2013.
5-
Azevedo, Roger, Daniel C. Moos, Jeffrey A. Greene, Fielding I. Winters, and Jennifer G. Cromley. (2008) ‘Why is externally-facilitated regulated learning more effective than self-regulated learning with hypermedia?.’ Educational Technology Research and Development 56, no. 1 : 45-72.
Hernández-Ramos, Pedro, and Susan De La Paz. (2009) ‘Learning history in middle school by designing multimedia in a project-based learning experience.’ Journal of Research on Computing in Education 42, no. 2 : 151.
Wadman, M. & De La Paz, S. (2013) ‘Piloting tools to enable active and participatory learning for middle school students: Facilitating digital learning with Smithsonian digital resources’. Grant Proposal: University of Maryland/Smithsonian Seed Grant.