There is still time to sign up for an Online Museum Course starting July 5, 2021! Join our excellent instructors for one of these informative courses!
MS203: Museum Storage Techniques
July 5 to 30, 2021
Instructor: Laura Elliff Cruz
Description:
Is your collection stacked, packed and stressed? Museum Storage Techniques has the solution. The course builds on its sister course, Museum Facilities and Furniture, which looks at the bigger storage environment.. The Museum Storage Techniques course emphasizes the needs of individual objects and collection groupings. Guidelines for specific materials are provided. Participants learn about storage materials and mounts and the most effective use of trays, drawers, shelves and cabinets.
MS207: Cataloging Your Collection
July 5 to 30, 2021
Instructor: Peggy Schaller
Description:
Cataloging may not be the most exciting museum task, but it is among the most important. Without a clear knowledge of your holdings, you can't protect, care for, research or exhibit them. Without knowledge of an item's history, you can't properly appreciate its value to your museum. Cataloging Your Collection covers all details needed to catalog a collection. Procedures for handling, measuring and describing all types of objects and materials are discussed in detail. Participants receive sample forms and learn the best practices for numbering artifacts, performing inventory and assessing the condition of objects. Participants practice describing everyday objects and cataloging items from their own collections or households.
MS210: Integrated Pest Management for Museums, Libraries and Archives
July 5 to August 13, 2021
Instructor: Christina Cain
Description:
The only thing worse than mice or cockroaches in your kitchen, is finding them in your museum collection. Participants in Integrated Pest Management for Museums, Libraries and Archives learn low-toxicity methods of controlling infestations. IPM is the standard method for treating incoming items and monitoring holdings. Integrated Pest Management for Museums, Libraries and Archives discusses how infestations occur, helps identify risks, provides feasible mitigation strategies, discusses the different techniques of treating infested materials, and helps you complete an IPM plan and monitoring schedule for your institution. The course covers pest identification, insects, rodent, birds, bats, other mammals and mold infestations, as well as other problems raised by participants.
MS 267: Museum Ethics
July 5 to 30, 2021
Instructor: Peggy Schaller
Description:
This course will examine the role of ethics in museums and related institutions. Topics addressed will include the differences in ethics, laws, and morals; what ethics are and where they come from; the ethical codes that museum professionals follow; how ethics affect professional practices; why ethics are important; and how ethical standards can help museums and related institutions better serve society. Participants in the course will gain an understanding of the importance of ethics in professional museum practice, how codes of ethics are written and why they are important, and will develop an understanding of the most significant codes of ethics subscribed to by museum professionals.
MS 271: Training for Interpretive Trainers
July 5 to 30, 2021
Instructor: John Veverka
Description:
It’s often difficult to teach interpretive techniques and principles to others when you may have not had any formal training in interpretation yourself. The course provides ways to develop and deliver interpretive training courses and workshops for cultural sites and staff charged with developing interpretive training for their docents, volunteers, seasonal interpretive staff, or full time interpretive staff.
This course includes a copy of our new e-textbook, the Interpretive Trainers Handbook.
Course Goals: Upon completion of this course participants will:
- Have interpretive training program lesson plans and schedule of instructions drafted out.
- Have a working knowledge of key interpretive elements they should be teaching.
MS 274: Social Media with an Educational Purpose
July 5 to 30, 2021
Instructor: Karin Hostetter
Co-Taught by Erin Gates
Description:
Embracing the benefits of having a digital presence for our museums will help us fulfill our missions and expand our reach. How can you optimize your educational outreach and build your community by making the wider world aware of your museum during the digital age? Learn valuable tools for how to best leverage the power of social media for both marketing and educational purposes. Discover the various ways in which you can provide live educational programming using social media livestreams and video-conference platforms for your social media following, school groups, or private revenue generating tours. Highlight your museum collections using digital tools and be a part of the growing use of AR/VR experiences to reach more visitors. Explore how digital tools help meet visitors' basic and growth needs, enabling them to potentially reach the peak experiences described in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The result is a deeper connection to your museum from a wide range of visitors. At the conclusion of this course, you will have the digital tool kit you need to digitize your museum education and an understanding of best practices when providing digital education programming.
Feel free to contact me with questions.