| Session Title: Informal Environments: A Sampler of Audience Research and Evaluation From the Visitor Studies Association |
| Multipaper Session 126 to be held in Suwannee 17 on Wednesday, Nov 11, 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM |
| Sponsored by the Evaluating the Arts and Culture TIG |
| Chair(s): |
| Cheryl Kessler, Institute for Learning Innovation, kessler@ilinet.org |
| Discussant(s): |
| Joe E Heimlich, Ohio State University, heimlich.1@osu.edu |
| Abstract: What does evaluation and research in informal learning environments look like? Who does this work? What are the challenges and constraints for evaluating informal learning environments? Expanding the discussion in New Directions for Evaluation's 2005 issue, Evaluating Nonformal Education Programs and Settings, members of the Visitor Studies Association (VSA), an international network of professionals committed to understanding and enhancing visitor experiences in informal settings through research, evaluation and dialogue, will present a showcase of studies in informal environments. The showcase will include evaluation and research studies conducted for a performing arts organization, studies conducted in history, science, natural history, and children's museums; studies aimed at specific and general audience learning; and studies conducted by both internal and external evaluators. |
| Approaches to Measuring Identity in Informal Learning Environments |
| Kirsten Ellenbogen, Science Museum of Minnesota, kellenbogen@smm.org |
| Kirsten Ellenbogen, Director of Evaluation and Research in Learning at the Science Museum of Minnesota will present on recent work in informal learning environments to define identity, measure identity, and the integration of technology into identity-related measurements. Discussion includes criteria for developing an identity as a learner, the interrelationship of identity and participation, and the particular importance of identity in informal learning environments. Approaches include video-based reflective interviews, traditional and technology-supported journaling, and conversation analysis. Ellenbogen is a founding officer of the Informal Learning Environments Research SIG-American Education Research Association, senior chair of the Informal Science Education Strand-National Association for Research in Science Teaching, training coordinator of the Visitor Studies Group (UK), and President of VSA. |
| Concurrent Evaluations in a Single Institution |
| Saul Rockman, Rockman et al, saul@rockman.com |
| Saul Rockman, President of Rockman et al, and VSA Board member, will present on evaluations conducted in Science Centers and Natural History museums. Within a single institution, visitors include school groups, seniors, young adults, and multi-generation families; programs are designed to appeal to any and all of these groups. Concurrent evaluations in one institution include: assessing the perceived value of a multimedia exhibit for adults and families, the educational value of school group visits and programs for teachers, studies of learning from a planetarium show and visitor interest in future programs, how partnerships between public institutions and the private sector yield benefits for both, and the contributions of evening programs and Web 2.0 presence for young adults to increase membership and attendance. Each evaluations engages multiple methods and strategies, varying immediate and longitudinal impacts, and a concern for data interpretation to provide actionable information for institutional and programmatic decision makers. |
| Evaluating Museum Youth Program for Social Change and Civic Engagement |
| Mary Ellen Munley, MEM & Associates, maryellen@mem-and-associates.com |
| Mary Ellen Munley, Principal, MEM & Associates and Past President of VSA, will present on a study with program staff of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum to evaluate Bringing the Lessons Home, the museum's youth program for area teens. The evaluation focused on the ways in which the attitudes and actions of participating youth changed over the course of their involvement in the program, how those changes contributed to personal transformation and increased civic engagement, and how the participants' became catalysts for social change in their communities and in the museum. As they continue to work on moving the program into its next phase of development, program staff are actively using the study to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between the anatomy of the program design, outcomes for participants, and broader impact. |
| Evaluation at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS) |
| Kathleen Tinworth, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, kathleen.tinworth@dmns.org |
| Kathleen Tinworth, Director of Vistor Rsearch & Program Evaluation at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS) and member of VSA's Profesional Development Committee, will present on evaluation conducted for a unique and distinctive first-person enactment program in 2007. Two multi-method evaluations (including exit surveys, visitor and enactor interviews and focus groups, observations and tracking and timing studies) have been conducted to assess qualitative and quantitative impacts that the enactor program has on visitor experience at DMNS. The first evaluation focused on the enactors' role within a temporary exhibition (Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition) and the second examined their ongoing work in the Museum's permanent diorama halls. |
| Evaluating the Long Island Children's Museum's, Be Together, Learn Together Program |
| Cheryl Kessler, Institute for Learning Innovation, kessler@ilinet.org |
| Cheryl Kessler, Research Associate with the Institute for Learning Innovation and VSA Board member will present on evaluation conducted for the Long Island Children's Museum (LICM), Be Together, Learn Together program, a partnership with Nassau County, NY Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) to provide support to children and families receiving social service agencies. |