Who can make the biggest bubble?

 

Transparency and Museums

Megan Smith is an education specialist at the National Museum of American History. In her latest blog she writes about President Obama’s call for transparency among government agencies and shares her thoughts on how Dr. Maxwell Anderson, Director of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, has lead his museum toward total transparency by creating a dashboard on their website that gives real-time statistics for their institution—everything from the number of visitors in the building, to the kilowatt hours used, to the current size of the museum’s endowment.

Also, you must read these excellent articles on museums in the NYT.

Jacob Demonstrates Bubble-Making Techniques

 

Spring Break at the Museum of the Great Plains

Jacob Scroggins, a MacArthur Middle School student and member of the Museum's Youth Advisory Council, was at the Museum today ready to help out in any way he could. That's because the Museum is offering more hands-on stations for visitors this week for Spring Break.
Jacob's been helping out at the Museum for going on two years now! He's helped us plan fun events like Surprise Sundays and the Christmas Celebrations, and he's pitched in during other big events too, like during The Big Read Kickoff!
So, I just wanted to say, "Thanks Jacob!"

Webinars and Professional Development

These webinars are just the best! I don’t know if they’ve been around for very long or not. I don’t think they have. It seems like they just appeared in full force overnight! Since January, I’ve “attended” two as a paid participant, and two as a non-paid participant. The advantage of being a paid participant is that you have the opportunity to interact with the panelists and participants, and although I hesitate to jump in, I love being there for the real time conversations.

My first webinar, “Excellence and Equity-Then, Now and Next: Education and the Public Dimension of Museums”, was presented by the American Association of Museums. After just a few clicks on the computer, MGP’s registrar Jim Whiteley, the Living History Interpreter Tim Poteete and I found ourselves with colleagues from across the nation… and incredible presenters such as Elaine Heumann Gurian, who has accomplished so much in her life. She received the American Association of Museums “Distinguished Service to Museums Award” (2004); the “Outstanding Learning Disabled Achiever Award” for the Lab School of Washington (1993); “The Distinguished Service Alumni Award for the Class of 1958” from the Brandeis University; and the “Museum Educator’s Award for Excellence” (1985). This webinar was of particular interest due to the fact that it was all about the first attempts made by museum professionals (early 1990s), to define the role of education in museums, which in turn resulted in the “the first major report on the educational role of museums ever to be issued by AAM—a report that continues to stimulate and challenge multiple generations of museum professionals” (Pitman) and led to refocusing on major AAM programs and initiatives, including the evolution of accreditation, the Public Dimension Assessment of the Museum Assessment Program (MAP), and Museums and Community.

These webinars are such a great opportunity to connect and learn from top notch professionals from around the nation (and sometimes from around the world), get in touch with current trends and new directions, make some new freinds....all in an afternoon or two, without spending time or money on travel, without missing a beat at work... they are just the best!

The Museum's Gift Shop

The Museum has an amazing assortment of books for sale, from David Rickman's educational coloring books to Sarah Eppler Janda's analysis of two incredible women - LaDonna Harris and Wilma Mankiller - in, Beloved Women: The Political Lives of Ladonna Harris and Wilma Mankiller. Sarah Eppler Janda, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History and Government at Cameron University has often assisted and/or provided the Museum with fresh insight and research on exhibited items from the collection.

OKME Mid-Winter Seminar

The Oklahoma Museum Educators (OKME) Standing Professional Committee met this past February 6th at the Philbrook Museum in Tulsa for our annual Mid-Winter Seminar. Our guests this year were Kris Wetterlund and Scott Sayre, two extremely talented and dedicated individuals who spoke to us about the many ways in which technology is being used in the area of museum education. During the seminar we were introduced to different types of software that would allow a user to access digital files or photos of their collection and place them into various interactive learning experiences. Pachyderm was one such program. Examples of how this works can be found at ArtsConnectEd, or here at Sandbox Studios. OKME members also enjoyed learning about the Philbrook's collection and educational programming by taking part in a tour hosted by Susan Green. You can find out more about OKME at the Oklahoma Museums Association website. I personally don't know what I would have done without the excellent professional development and networking opportunities they offer. I'm so thankful that our Museum of the Great Plains stays so connected to this highly supportive organization. And by the way, the OMA 2009 Annual Fall Conference will be here! in Lawton! MGP will be the host site!