Dear Deb, You've given me quite a bit to think about. Since the museum where I currently work is on the UIC campus, I have easy access (and it's free!) to both the Education Dept. here and the Masters in the Teaching of History program here. Since I know some of our professors here at UIC, it certainly seems worthwhile to at least start talking to them and get a feel for their responsiveness. Thanks for taking the time to reply. I truely appreciate your suggestions. Peggy Glowacki At 09:34 AM 1/28/1999 -0500, you wrote: >At 10:10 AM 1/27/99 -0800, you wrote: >>Hi, Does anyone have information about or opinions of the relative merits >>of Distance Education programs in Museum Studies? I have worked in a small >>museum for 9 years and am thinking of going back for a second MA (my first >>was in American history) but cannot relocate. There are no Museum Studies >>programs in the Chicago area > >I'm sure there is a university in the Chicago area that has a graduate >general education program. Granted it will be for classroom teachers but >you can probably get out of the M.Ed. without student teaching if you >explain to the dean that you are a museum person. And even if you do have >to student teach, it's good experience to be on "the other side of the >desk" for a time. > >The educational theory will all be the same and the extra work in the >classrooms is emensely beneficial because you will have to work with kids >in a school classroom and deal with the limitations of the classroom as a >museum educator. This is critical information to know and understand when >working in a museum ed program. I've seen far too many good museum ed >programs that are almost completely useless because the museum educators >who prepared them did not understand what the needs and abilties of a >classroom teacher are. Most of it was due to the follow-up activities that >were either over the teacher's heads in subject matter and thus they >couldn't explain the lessons to their students, required materials and >activities that were not available or feasible in a classroom or just took >too long to do. Nature lessons that need a field or patch of woods are no >good in a city. Art activties that require lots of clean-up and set-up or >special materials are impossible to do in a school with no extra rooms to >use or art teacher to order special supplies. > >A traditional ed grad program will also help you understand how state >curriculums work and what pressures teachers are to teach these >curriculums. Any outside info that teachers can use with minimal effort on >their part are always greatly appreciated. If you know what the teachers >have to teach and how they have to teach it, you can look at your museum >program and create curriculum that teachers can use. A unit on modern art >for 5th graders is useless to a teacher who has to teach Renaissance >history. A unit on how lifestyles and social attitudes are reflected >through art in the Renaissance for 5th graders would be perfect. > >Lastly, a general ed program will give you experience and knoweldge of how >to teach all subjects, not just the one your museum is about. Curriculums >these days are "multi-disciplinary", meaing that lessons generally don't >focus on one subject but incorporate several subjects. The book "Island of >the Blue Dolphins" can be used not only for reading/language arts but for >science math and history. Learning how to incorporate more than one >subject area in a lesson is a valuable skill because the more SOLs a >teacher can cover in a lesson, the easier her job is. > >Good luck! > >Deb > > > >-------------------------------------------- >Staples & Charles Ltd. >225 N Fairfax St. >Alexandria, VA 22314 >USA >703-683-0900 - voice >703-683-2820 - fax >[log in to unmask] > >