Museum Educators Innovating with Technology

Scott Sayre & Kris Wetterlund Sandbox Studios/Museum411Learning in Museums 2008, June 20, 2008

Museum Educators Innovating with Technology

Scott Sayre and Kris Wetterlund

AAM Learning in Museums Seminar

Friday, June 20, 2008


What are the conditions for museum educators successfully innovating with technology in museums?


Conditions for ClassroomTechnology InnovationsConditions for ClassroomTechnology InnovationsYong Zhao, Michigan State University, Kevin Pugh, University of Toledo, Stephen Sheldon, Johns Hopkins University, Joe L. Byers, Michigan State University

Teachers College Record, Volume 104, Number 3, April 2002, pp. 482-515

ARTstor Study


Museum Educators Innovating with TechnologyMuseum Educators Innovating with TechnologyThe Innovator (Educator)

The Innovation (Project)

The Context (Museum)


ARTstor ProjectsARTstor Projects

Docent Project

History Museum

Video Conferencing

Teacher Partnership

The Museum Educator as Innovator


The Innovator (Educator)The Innovator (Educator)Knowledge of the technology and its enabling conditions

A Request for Proposals (RFP) that contained wildly varied levels of detail made it impossible to bid on.


The Innovator (Educator)The Innovator (Educator)

Pedagogy-technology compatibility

In an ARTstor test, a history museum educator stressed her emphasis in bringing in resources from all disciplines to aid teaching history at her museum.


The Innovator (Educator)The Innovator (Educator)

Knowledge of the organizational and social culture of the museum

Technology staff proposing a project that put technology in the hands of art museum docents. The educator expressed interest but knew the docents would resist.


The Innovation (Project)The Innovation (Project)

Alignment with the museum culture

Museum authority versus Web 2.0

The art mob and MOMA

The Library of Congress and Flickr



Required resources are available: human, economic and technology

Cell phone audio tours

YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, etc.



Distance from the innovators current practices

MDL teacher training. Teachers who succeeded were those who used Pachyderm to create resources for something they were already teaching.


The Context (Museum)The Context (Museum)

Technological infrastructure (facility, network, equipment, etc.)

Museum educators would like to use YouTube videos in docent training but the IT staff of the museum has YouTube blocked because the network can’t support video streaming.



Human infrastructure

The first version of ArtsConnectEd placed more demands on the new media staff than resources were available. Solution: Recreate ArtsConnectEd so that museum educators are responsible for content.



Organizational culture (support staff, policies and procedures, etc.)

Cell phones and laptops are banned in some museum buildings.


The InnovatorKnowledge of the technologyPedagogy/technology compatibilityKnowledge of museum culture

The InnovationDistance from cultureDistance from resourcesDistance from innovator’s practice

The ContextTechnology infrastructureHuman infrastructureOrganizational culture

Successful Tech Projects


Museum Educator Technology Preparedness Quiz

Museum Educator Technology Preparedness Quiz


Preparedness QuizSection A: The InnovatorPreparedness QuizSection A: The Innovator

Question 1I can use the technology myself and am familiar with all of the enabling technologies needed to support it.

No Some Yes1 2 3 4 5



Question 2The way this technology aids learning closely parallels my own teaching philosophy.




Question 3I understand and can navigate easily the social/political dynamics of my institution.



Preparedness QuizSection B: The ProjectPreparedness QuizSection B: The Project

Question 4This project is a variation of something I’ve done or do already.




Question 5I understand and can navigate easily the social/political dynamics of my institution.




Question 6I can implement this project without cooperation from anyone else.



Preparedness QuizSection C: The ContextPreparedness QuizSection C: The Context

Question 7Communication between technology staff, museum leadership and me is common.




Question 8Technology components required to implement this project work well and are easily available to me whenever I need them.




Question 9I work in an organization that welcomes and encourages innovation with supportive policies for technology purchases and related professional development.



It’s Time to Calculate Your Scores…It’s Time to Calculate Your Scores…


Scoring: The InnovatorScoring: The InnovatorThe innovator is the most important domain used to determine innovation success or failure. If innovator scores total nine or above, the project may well succeed even if scores in the other two domains are not as high.

Score 9-12: Innovator’s strengths will likely steer project to success

Score 5-8: Innovator should proceed with caution. If other domains have scores of 9 or higher, success is still possible.

Score 0-4: Innovator may benefit from reflecting on the nature of his/her pedagogy and developing a deeper understanding of the proposed technology. An awareness of the social dynamics of the institution will aid the innovator in choosing the right innovation and the right time to introduce it.












Scoring: The ProjectScoring: The ProjectInnovations most likely to succeed are those that have some connection to current practice or do not require significant leaps in technology acquisition for the host institution. The degree of dependence on other people also impacts a project’s success or failure. Research indicates that projects rooted in “evolution rather than revolution” have a greater chance for success.

Score 9-12: This innovation is likely to be a timely step in the museum’s technology development.

Score 5-8: This innovation may present significant hurdles during the implementation process. Innovator should question if strengths in other domains (Innovator and Context) are enough to overcome these hurdles at the present time.

Score 0-4: The innovation is likely to present too many barriers to meet with success at this time. Examining other areas of current practice to identify projects that require smaller technological and pedagogical challenges may be recommended.