Emerging Museum Professional
Community Partner Collaboration Projects
Civic engagement and collaboration are two of the core values of my museum studies program. We had the opportunity to work with local museums to develop projects they could use. Working with real-life projects and applying what we learned in class, they were great learning experiences. Many of these assignments were group projects and we developed our ability to work as a team. Here are some of the highlights.
Education Program:
Indianapolis Zoo
I developed an educational program plan for the Indianapolis Zoo, as part of my Museum Education class. Using the discovery learning theory, I planned three activities for a three hour workshop for children. Children in the "Be an Elephant Scientist" workshop will apply the steps of the scientific process in the zoo to guide their knowledge construction about African elephants.
In Museum Communications class, we developed a gallery text guide for Herron Galleries- the art galleries for IUPUI's Herron School of Art and Design. Our guidebook outlined formatting standards for introductory and caption text, as well as information about how to write interpretive text, and suggestions for streamlining the submission process.
Gallery Text Guide:
Herron Galleries
Strategic Plan:
Indiana Deaf Heritage Museum
We developed a 5-year strategic plan for the Indiana Deaf Heritage Museum, applying what learned in Museum Administration class. Our plan focused on the issues of museum governance. The goal for this report was to create a cohesive 5 year plan for the all-volunteer museum to implement in order to fulfill their mission to the best of its’ abilities.
For Exhibit Design & Development class, we divided into groups to create an exhibit plan for Johnson County Historical Society. Given the topic of transportation in Johnson County, my group came up with a plan for "Roads, Rails & Skies." Together, we developed interactives, gallery text, collections case layouts, etc. I was responsible for building the exhibit layout with SketchUp software.
Exhibit Plan:
Johnson County Historical Society
