When I began my teaching career, in the mid 60’s, my principal issued each teacher textbooks for every subject she taught, a record player, a tape player/recorder, and a box of chalk. Our school also owned two projectors, one for 35mm movies and another for filmstrips, and a mimeograph machine. …
Technology has revolutionized communication in virtually every aspect of daily life and, hence, has the potential to dramatically alter the nature and level of communication between museums and their visiting publics. In many cases, it already has. Not surprisingly, science museums and children’s museums have enthusiastically embraced the newest technologies, …
Prior to the explosion of the internet, the use of computers by many docents was limited primarily to word processing functions — drafting reports required as part of training, or perhaps constructing tours and recording or arranging information. With the wealth of information now online, from the everyday to the …
Use Technology to Improve Your Teaching Techniques Teaching is a skill that requires constant honing to remain sharp and fresh. Why not take advantage of technology to assist? provide tours and presentations to their peers. Video taping allows docents to review their own performance and to accomplish a self-examination of …
Imagine that you are a student at North Montgomery High School in Crawfordsville, Indiana. It’s 9:30 on a brisk October Friday morning, and your art teacher has just announced that today your class will use the current exhibition at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, located forty-five miles away, to discuss …
The fabric is clearly red and the sign says wool, but as any frequenter of yardage stores knows, seeing is not enough for believing. One must touch the material, feel it, in short, have a hands-on experience. Handling objects invites discussion and encourages questions, the answers to which visitors can …
Like Superman, technology possesses “super-powers.” Unlike Superman, however, technology’s powers may be used for good or ill. As a concerned educator, who has strongly-felt opinions about technology’s role in museum education, I’d like to express my cautionary thoughts and then offer a few suggestions for its appropriate use. It is …