DU1750 Teaching in an Art Museum

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2020
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Nathaniel J. Prottas, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. Ivan Foletti, MA, Docteur es Lettres, Docent in Church History
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
Course objectives
This course examines the relationship between museum education practice and theory and seeks to explore the academic and theoretical underpinning of the field. Our goal will be to understand education not as that which happens after the show has been completed, but as a cooperative and integrative working process that balances academic research with live experiences of museum visitors
Learning outcomes
Students will learn how to teach with objects in the museum in a theoretically founded way. Students will understand the historical relationship of education to the museum’s goals and learn to think beyond art historical methods for museum programming. They will explore different ways of accessing and engaging with art, including dialogical, theatrical, and artistic models.
Syllabus
  • The course examines the historical, theoretical, and practical foundations of art museum education. Students will explore how museum education can be understood as a field that balances art historical information with theories of learning, joint meaning-making, and experience. Although museum educators necessarily dedicate much of their time to practical questions—how large is the group? what age group? how much time does the group have?—museum education has the potential to foster dialogue and engage visitors in discussions that expand our histories and understanding of the world, fostering democratic ideals of equality and openness.
  • We will investigate how object knowledge is produced, which knowledge is valued and which ignored, and who has a voice in the museum. Central to the course will be the question of how the theoretical models of democratic and radically democratic museum education can be implemented in the museum. As such, we will discuss the challenges of transforming theory into praxis, focusing on new and traditional models such as ‘embodiment’, ‘object centered learning,’ ‘education as anti-racist praxis,’ ‘the educational turn in curating,’ ‘dialogical models,’ and ‘constructivism.’ In addition, we will learn how educators can work collaboratively with curators and visitor services to create inclusive and visitor-oriented museums and exhibitions. Our goal will be to understand education not as that which happens after the show has been completed, but as a cooperative and integrative working process that balances academic research with live experiences of museum visitors
Literature
  • Students will read a variety of texts from museum theorists, historians of museum education, and museum education practioners.
Teaching methods
The course will balance discussion of theoretical and practical texts with hands-on experimentation in different teaching and learning styles for the museum. We will ask how theoretical concepts of participation, inclusion, and meaning-making can be implemented in the context of short and long-term museum programming through group discussion and exercises. A planned to trip to Vienna museums will offer direct insight into how education departments create and implement programming.
Assessment methods
Students will complete small assignments during the semester in advance of a lesson plan for a single object or group of objects in a Viennese museum. Students will evaluate a tour in a museum, research a single work they wish to create a lesson plan for, and then present that lesson plan for feedback from the class.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught only once.
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: Blokově.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2021.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2020, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2020/DU1750