Museum learning is a vital component of the lifelong-learning process. In this new edition of The Manual of Museum Learning, leading museum education professionals offer practical advice for creating successful learning experiences in museums and related institutions (such as galleries, zoos, and botanic gardens) that can attract and intrigue diverse audiences. The original Manual of Museum Learning was published in 2007. The editors have totally rethought this new edition. This second edition focuses on the ways museum staffs (and the departments for which they work) can facilitate the experience in a way that capitalizes on their individual institutional strengths. The goal of this new edition is to provide museums with guidance in developing a strategic approach to their learning programs. There is a close connection between institution-wide strategic planning – where an institution decides what course and direction it will take for a five to seven-year period – and its approach to museum learning. One size does not fit all, and what each museum is (or aspires to be) will affect its individual approach. Thus there are many routes for museums to take, many alternative ways for them to play this role. No one museum can be all things to all prospective learners; they will be better suited to some approaches than to others. This new edition identifies these approaches and enables museums to find the paths for which they are individually best suited, to help them identify their own unique approaches to facilitating museum learning. Each one’s mission and vision, its relationships with institutional and public stakeholders, local cultural and market factors, its individual collection and programmatic strengths, its financial position – all of these things matter. This second edition aims to help each museum find the right approach to learning for its unique situation by showing them the range of museum “personalities” in terms of their being learning institutions, what constitutes each type, and what the implications are of choosing one or another approach for a particular museum. A major theme of the 2nd edition of The Manual of Museum Learning is museum as connector; the ways in which museums are facilitating self-directed learning by connecting people with resources. Not all will connect audiences with learning vehicles in the same way. If museum learning is affective learning, then it is the role of the museum to connect its visitors, program participants and others who benefit from its knowledge to the learning resources that best suit the institution’s strengths and matches them to the learning needs of the museum’s audiences. By connecting users to the resources they are most interested in, or which best suit each individual’s particular learning styles, museums are at their best when they empower individuals to design their own learning experience in ways that resonate best with each individual.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments List of Contributors Prologue Brad King Section One: WHY Planning Basics 1. Introduction Brad King 2. Planning Strategically for Learning Brad King 3. Planning for Informal Learning: Understanding and Simplifying the Interpretive Process Jennifer Shepherd Section Two: WHAT A Framework for Museum Learning Introduction Brad King 4. Learning for Change Ngaire Blankenberg 5. The Changing Role of the Curator Sascha Priewe 6. Planning for Effective Learning Partnerships Brad King Case Study 6.1: Tine Seligmann, Project Learning Museum: collaboration between museums and the educational world, from project to concept 7. Museum Learning Outside the Museum Ngaire Blankenberg Case Study 7.1: Trish Savill, Campus Calgary/Open Minds – Moving the Classroom into the Community; doing together what we can’t do alone Section Three: HOW Transforming the Museum into a 21st Century Learning Institution Introduction Brad King 8. Managing Institutional Change Introduction Brad King 8.1 Re-Visioning the Museum as a Learning Institution Nannette V. Maciejunes and Cindy Meyers Foley 8.2 Thinking About Operations Charlie Walter 8.3 Banishing the “Museum Position”: Training Front-Line Staff for Effective Learning Kathleen Brown 8.4 Facility Planning for Museum Learning Heather Maximea 9. Planning for Audiences Introduction Brad King 9.1 Adopting New Habits for Visitor-Centered Learning Merilee Mostov Case Study 9.1: Anne Madden, Engaging Audiences: Climate Change Learning at the Memorial University of Newfoundland Botanical Garden 9.2 Childhood Learning in Museums Brad King Case Study 9.2 Candice Anderson, Cool Culture 9.3 Access for Museum Learning Katie Stringer 10. Planning Learning Programs Introduction Brad King 10.1 Use of Collections in Museum Learning Sascha Priewe 10.2 The “Cultural Exhibition”: A Museum Model for Cultural Works-in-Progress Andrea Sachdeva 10.3 Learning From Interpretation Katherine Molineux Case Study 10.3: Genia Hesser, The North Dakota State Museum: A Thematic Approach to History Exhibits 10.4 Tools and Technology for Museum Learning Shailoh Phillips 11. Conclusion Brad King Postscript Barry Lord Glossary Bibliography Index