I am currently a graduate student in Museum Studies. Personally, I had a few 
years of volunteering in my small local museum and a few jobs in the public 
service field, before being accepted to Texas Tech Museum Studies program. 
However, about half of the class had no museum experience before starting 
the program.

Anna Poull


>From: Laura Roberts <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: [MUSEUM-L] prior experience
>Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 11:09:54 -0400
>
>I would say it depends on whether it is a graduate or undergraduate course 
>and the requirements of the specific program. I teach the intro course in 
>the Tufts graduate program and we accept very few students who don't have 
>some prior inside experience as a volunteer, intern or staff member. We 
>accept teachers who have been clients of museums and collectors among our 
>career changers - they have lots of sophisticated museum-going but often no 
>experience on the inside. But we also have a few students who are 
>matriculating in an academic M.A. program in art, history or education who 
>have elected to also pursue a museum certificate, who are accepted by the 
>academic department, not the museum studies program, and museum experience 
>is not among their acceptance criteria. We used to run a practicuum for the 
>inexperienced students to bring them up to speed. We've dropped that but 
>now ask that those with no experience volunteer at a museum to get a better 
>sense of how they work.
>
>All that said, if the experience is in a small job in a large museum or at 
>a young age, it may not really leave the student with a very clear sense of 
>how decisions are made at the upper reaches of an institution. When you're 
>a 19 year old intern in the education department does anyone explain how 
>collections come into the museum? Do you have any sense of the difference 
>between a team-organization and a silo'd organization? Do you observe the 
>roles and relationships and dynamics of everyone involved in creating an 
>exhibition? I suspect not. Even with a screened class, I need to teach some 
>relatively basic stuff and provide strong background readings to bring 
>everyone to the same level. In class discussion I find I need to elicit 
>observations on other work or volunteer experiences and then draw the 
>connections to museum work.
>
>Laura Roberts
>
>At 12:00 AM 3/20/2007, you wrote:
>>As background for a directed studies course, I am trying to gain an idea 
>>of
>>how many people taking their first museum studies course (Introduction to
>>Museum Studies or the equivalent) have prior know of how historic sites 
>>and/or
>>museums operate. That is, how many have any experience beyond family 
>>visits or
>>school tours to historic sites and museums. I am interested in perceptions 
>>of
>>both those teaching such courses and those taking them.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Bill Hanable
>
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