Many regional museum education roundtables face challenges that can affect the very survival of their groups. The Museum Education Roundtable itself recently faced a situation that required the MER board to take a new direction on how the Journal of Museum Education would be published. Similar concerns have resulted in migrating the organization's member newsletter to a blog format. This blog in fact!
We recently received a question from Maija Sedzielarz, a school visit coordinator at the Science Museum of Minnesota. She expressed concerns over what seemed to be a lack of support and feedback from members of the regional museum education group. She asked:
"How do other places keep their very loose, informal groups going? Or is it just the nature of the beast that these groups will flow and ebb, as those who need it, re-energize it from time to time. I have been involved in museum professional organizations for quite some time and see this phenomenon a lot. Hmmm... maybe it's me!"
We decided to write this article so that we could get your feedback and suggestions. Let's hear from you. Please use the comment feature to post your answer.
Jim Angus
MER Board Member
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Regional MERs Project
By Julia Rose, Director of West Baton Rouge Museum, Port Allen, Louisiana and MER board member.
In an attempt to provide a communication network for museum education groups around the world, the Museum Education Roundtable put out a query through various museum list-servs in August 2007 seeking to learn the identities and activities of regional MERs. The Regional MERs Project, in supporting MER's mission to “promote the role of museums and other cultural institutions as primary resources for life long learning,” is
tracking current interests and concerns of museum educators at the grass roots level.
The response to the query was tremendous, thanks to those who assisted in disseminating the survey, including Chris Castle, editor of Museum Education Monitor. We made contact with more than 50 regional MERs: 60% were from within the United States, 20% from England, 7% from Australia, 9% from Canada, and 4% from Scotland.
MER asks museum educators to let us know if they are a part of a group of museum educators (formal or informal) that meets to discuss museum practice, education practice, and/or theoretical concerns facing museum educators. If you are a member of a museum education roundtable or similar organization or know of one, could you share with us the region/city/town the group meets in; approximately how many folks are members; and the respondent's contact information (name, email, and museum/cultural institution/nature center/park affiliation)? Please respond to Julia Rose, JuliaRose4@gmail.com with the description of your museum education organization.
Around The Table…
Findings from the initial query indicate that the majority of museum educator groups value an informal format where they discuss issues that impact them directly, primarily at a local level. Local issues (e.g. promotion and connections with formal educators) and interpersonal and interagency networks appear to be key forces keeping the local MERs running. Jill Bennett put it best when she reported on the Bath & North East Somerset Museums Group in the UK, “The group members are keen to be seen as a cohesive body who do not act in competition with each other but work together to celebrate the diversity of the collections we have in the area.” The majority of regional MERs are small, grassroots organizations, without websites, elected officers, or funding bases.
Visit MERs around the globe:
• Institute of Museum and Gallery Education (IMAGE) is a local Melbourne chapter of the national Museums Australia Education Special Interest Group. http://www.museumsaustralia.org.au/index.php
• Cultural Connections Group (CC) in the San Francisco Bay Area. http://www.cultural-connections.org
• Hamilton and Area Museum Educators Group (HAM-ED) in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. www.hamused.blogspot.com
• New York City Museum Educators Roundtable (NYCMER). www.nycmer.org
• Rural History Confederation (RHC) in southeastern PA. www.ruralhistoryconfederation.org
• Heritage Education Officers Group (HEOG) based in Edinburgh, Scotland. http://www.15ccem.com/15CCEM/CCEM_HomePage.jsp
Click on Showcase, then click on Showcase Directory.
Joining the Table… New Regional MERs
The Gotham Center for NYC History helped start a new organization last year – the New York City Alliance for History Education (www.gothamed.org) – whose membership consists of educators from museums, historical societies, historic houses, etc.
In August, museum educators formed a new MER group in North Carolina (NCMER, www.ncmuseumofhistory.org). The main meetings (twice a year) will be in the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill area with additional regional meetings for each of two regions, one based in the Triad area (Winston-Salem, High Point, Greensboro) and the other in the Triangle area (listed above).
Texan museum educators are looking to reenergize the Institute for Educators of Fort Worth (IEFW) this fall. Keep us posted!
Two new MERs were reported to commence in London: Event Programmers’ Roundtable and the Camden Council on Family Learning.
Museum educators are in the process of forming a regional MER, the Central Illinois Community Educators Association, for the Bloomington/Normal, IL area.
On the Table… The most current discussion topics from around the nation and the globe reported by regional MERs
Museum Educators of Southern California (MESC) organized a conference this past June entitled, Teaching with Technologies (http://www.mesconline.org).
Voyageur Heritage Network of Museums, based in Northern Ontario with members on Manitoulin Island, hosted a workshop in October focused on railway food. (www.visitamuseum.com).
Balboa Park Educators Council (BPEC) in San Diego, CA, discussed summer camp collaborations and increasing teacher participation in the Balboa Park venues in August.
The Twin Cities' Informal Science Education Consortium (ISEC) based in St. Paul, MN, discussed family learning in October.
Kansas City MER, located in both Missouri and Kansas, reports discussed dwindling student groups and the lack of urban school participation at its September meeting.
And finally, …
One twenty-year veteran museum educator wrote from California: “I think there is more collaboration now than ever but again, once a group gets too big, other issues start to get in the way of really addressing common needs and opportunities.”
What do you think? Respond to JuliaRose4@gmail.com.
In an attempt to provide a communication network for museum education groups around the world, the Museum Education Roundtable put out a query through various museum list-servs in August 2007 seeking to learn the identities and activities of regional MERs. The Regional MERs Project, in supporting MER's mission to “promote the role of museums and other cultural institutions as primary resources for life long learning,” is
tracking current interests and concerns of museum educators at the grass roots level.
The response to the query was tremendous, thanks to those who assisted in disseminating the survey, including Chris Castle, editor of Museum Education Monitor. We made contact with more than 50 regional MERs: 60% were from within the United States, 20% from England, 7% from Australia, 9% from Canada, and 4% from Scotland.
MER asks museum educators to let us know if they are a part of a group of museum educators (formal or informal) that meets to discuss museum practice, education practice, and/or theoretical concerns facing museum educators. If you are a member of a museum education roundtable or similar organization or know of one, could you share with us the region/city/town the group meets in; approximately how many folks are members; and the respondent's contact information (name, email, and museum/cultural institution/nature center/park affiliation)? Please respond to Julia Rose, JuliaRose4@gmail.com with the description of your museum education organization.
Around The Table…
Findings from the initial query indicate that the majority of museum educator groups value an informal format where they discuss issues that impact them directly, primarily at a local level. Local issues (e.g. promotion and connections with formal educators) and interpersonal and interagency networks appear to be key forces keeping the local MERs running. Jill Bennett put it best when she reported on the Bath & North East Somerset Museums Group in the UK, “The group members are keen to be seen as a cohesive body who do not act in competition with each other but work together to celebrate the diversity of the collections we have in the area.” The majority of regional MERs are small, grassroots organizations, without websites, elected officers, or funding bases.
Visit MERs around the globe:
• Institute of Museum and Gallery Education (IMAGE) is a local Melbourne chapter of the national Museums Australia Education Special Interest Group. http://www.museumsaustralia.org.au/index.php
• Cultural Connections Group (CC) in the San Francisco Bay Area. http://www.cultural-connections.org
• Hamilton and Area Museum Educators Group (HAM-ED) in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. www.hamused.blogspot.com
• New York City Museum Educators Roundtable (NYCMER). www.nycmer.org
• Rural History Confederation (RHC) in southeastern PA. www.ruralhistoryconfederation.org
• Heritage Education Officers Group (HEOG) based in Edinburgh, Scotland. http://www.15ccem.com/15CCEM/CCEM_HomePage.jsp
Click on Showcase, then click on Showcase Directory.
Joining the Table… New Regional MERs
The Gotham Center for NYC History helped start a new organization last year – the New York City Alliance for History Education (www.gothamed.org) – whose membership consists of educators from museums, historical societies, historic houses, etc.
In August, museum educators formed a new MER group in North Carolina (NCMER, www.ncmuseumofhistory.org). The main meetings (twice a year) will be in the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill area with additional regional meetings for each of two regions, one based in the Triad area (Winston-Salem, High Point, Greensboro) and the other in the Triangle area (listed above).
Texan museum educators are looking to reenergize the Institute for Educators of Fort Worth (IEFW) this fall. Keep us posted!
Two new MERs were reported to commence in London: Event Programmers’ Roundtable and the Camden Council on Family Learning.
Museum educators are in the process of forming a regional MER, the Central Illinois Community Educators Association, for the Bloomington/Normal, IL area.
On the Table… The most current discussion topics from around the nation and the globe reported by regional MERs
Museum Educators of Southern California (MESC) organized a conference this past June entitled, Teaching with Technologies (http://www.mesconline.org).
Voyageur Heritage Network of Museums, based in Northern Ontario with members on Manitoulin Island, hosted a workshop in October focused on railway food. (www.visitamuseum.com).
Balboa Park Educators Council (BPEC) in San Diego, CA, discussed summer camp collaborations and increasing teacher participation in the Balboa Park venues in August.
The Twin Cities' Informal Science Education Consortium (ISEC) based in St. Paul, MN, discussed family learning in October.
Kansas City MER, located in both Missouri and Kansas, reports discussed dwindling student groups and the lack of urban school participation at its September meeting.
And finally, …
One twenty-year veteran museum educator wrote from California: “I think there is more collaboration now than ever but again, once a group gets too big, other issues start to get in the way of really addressing common needs and opportunities.”
What do you think? Respond to JuliaRose4@gmail.com.
MER vision statement
In August 2007, following more than a years discussion, the MER board agreed upon a vision for the Museum Education Roundtable--
Together - realizing connections on the pathways to best practices
Erik Holland, board president
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