Course Descriptions

Required Courses

460.602 – Museums in the Digital Age
With the emergence of new media and the ever-expanding use of the Internet, the traditional role and scope of the museum is changing. The museum has a new position in global communication, dissemination of information, and cultural understanding. The introduction of technology into the museum is challenging traditional exhibition concepts, introducing new interactions between the audience and the object, and affecting the museum’s core operations. This course introduces students to the museum field and explores the impact of media and technology on the museum, including an overview of the historical role of the museum in society and an examination of the current uses and affects of digitization, the Internet, and wireless technologies in these institutions, as well as basic concepts underlying the planning of a technology project for a museum.

460.610 – Onsite Summer Seminar
A two-week, intensive, period of on-ground museum study in Washington, DC, including practicum experiences in a variety of museum settings; conversations with local museum professionals; observation of and interaction with museum visitors; and class sessions to integrate the learning experience. Using the rich diversity of museums in the Washington area this course will provide students with opportunities to use what they have learned in their prior courses as well as develop new skills in actual museum settings, including exhibitions, public programming events, and behind-the-scenes conservation and storage facilities. Students will work on directed activities during the two-week period, building toward the completion of a longer-term project on their own. Students must have completed a minimum of two courses in the program to register for this class.

Core Courses

(select three of the following four courses)

460.604 – Introduction to Museum Education
This course introduces students to the educational role and mission of museums in a pluralistic society; provides an overview of the museum as a learning environment with an emphasis on organizational structure and institutional history and explores the role and integration of analog and digital technologies in educational services, products and programs designed to serve various audiences.

460.606 – Exhibition Strategies
This course examines a broad range of current exhibition concepts and how they reflect a museum’s mission, curatorial and educational goals and marketing strategies. It includes in-depth discussions on topics such as the role of the object, the shift from object to experience, story-theater, hands-on activities, immersive environments, electronic enhancements and online exhibitions.

460.608 – The Business of Museums
Museums are stewards of cultural heritage, vortices of knowledge and arbiters of taste. They are community icons, places of respite and public education adjuncts. Museums don't necessarily deal in products for profit, yet they compete in an entertainment ecology. They must cultivate members and donors, while they rely on programs, gifts, grants, sponsorships, retail operations, and planned giving to survive. Students will explore the range, fundamentals, and subtleties of the museum business including mission, governance, programming, management, finance, fundraising, facilities, legal and ethical issues, technologies, and audiences.

460.609 – Museums in a Global Perspective
This course explores economic, political and social issues that link museums to a wide-range of national and international communities; examines the significant effects and challenges of the globalized world on the museums’ mission, preservation of cultural heritage, and exhibition practice.

Elective Courses

460.611 – History and Philosophy of U.S. Museums
From the princely gallery to monuments and sites of memory, students will examine how museums have changed over time. Students will explore case studies that range from cabinets of curiosities to the Smithsonian Institution, Colonial Williamsburg, natural history, visual art, and technological museums, as well as the more recent museums of postmodernist cultures. Through class assignments, students will explore the historical trends and social ideologies that have impacted organizational structures, exhibition strategies, and the museum’s relationship with its public.

460.614 – Ethnically Specific Museums
This course examines the history, significance, and potential of ethnically specific museums to enliven the debate about who we are as a nation through our shared experiences and heritage including a look at six diverse museums including; the National Museum of the American Indian, the Japanese American National Museum, el MUSEO del barrio, the Arab American National Museum, The Jewish Museum, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

460.617 – New Technologies, Old Dilemmas: Ethics and the Museum Professional
This course explores the broad range of ethical issues in the 21st-century museum as related to new technologies including how current business ethic theories can be applied to the museum, how to critically evaluate new technologies before adoption, and how and when to establish ethics policies.

460.618 – Museum Controversies: Ethical Issues in Museums
Museum administrators and curators have faced an array of ethical dilemmas in an increasingly contentious environment. This course explores the historical, political, and cultural backgrounds to controversies surrounding exhibitions such as the Smithsonian’s display of the Enola Gay, the Brooklyn Museums of Art’s “Sensation,” and the showing of illegally acquired antiquities at various art museums.

460.621 – Evaluation Techniques for Museums
This course provides an overview of evaluation and research methods in museums; the rationale for evaluation, the evaluation lifecycle including audience research, formative and summative methodologies, and usability testing. Emphasis is given to the opportunities and challenges of evaluating technology-enriched programs and exhibitions.

460.628 – Architecture of Museums
This course serves as an introduction to museum architecture, including the history of the museum building, current case studies of renovations, expansions, and new facilities, as well as discussion of topics of concern in creating a physical museum space such as matching the museum program planning to the design, visitor experience, wayfinding, building a green museum, and incorporating technology in the initial plan.

460.635 – Principles and Practices of Curatorship, Today and Tomorrow
Whether the museum is large or small, public or private, has several curatorial departments or a single director/curator, it must have a system to fulfill its curatorial mission. Everyone in the museum should understand the curatorial responsibilities of the institution, and every museum must have professionals with the knowledge and skills to develop and implement a curatorial strategy suited to its unique collection and/or its exhibition program. In this course, students will study the five most important curatorial functions of the museum: overseeing the care of the collection, conducting research and publishing, interpreting and presenting the collection, acquiring and deaccessioning works, and presenting the collection. In addition, students will explore different strategies for fulfilling these responsibilities with an emphasis on using new technological tools; the financial, ethical, and other challenges associated with curatorship in today’s museum; and potential changes in the museum’s curatorial functions in the future.

460.642 – Creating Museum Learning Environments with 21st-Century Tools
This course examines how museum educators create learning environments in and for museums, and explores how, with the right application of new content tools, visitors’ online and onsite experience can blend into a lifelong learning continuum. Each lesson will be preceded by an assigned reading/experience and followed by an assignment to plan/create an educational component. Students will use online multimedia tools to create a complete educational technology proposal for a gallery/museum of their choice.

460.651 – History, Trends, and New Developments in Museum Publishing
The course will provide a broad overview of the history and philosophy of museum publishing, from its earliest days to the present. Students will study the range and evolution of museum publications, from traditional exhibition catalogues and collection volumes, to newer types of museum communication tools such as Web sites and in-gallery kiosks. This course will examine the ways in which museums create publishing programs to balance the needs and interests of their staff and constituents, including students and teachers, scholars, and the general public.

460.652 – The Practice of Museum Publishing
As content originators, museum curators, educators, conservators, public relations officers, development staff, and others will hold a stake in the publications process at some point in their careers. This course presents an overview of the range of print and electronic publications typical--and not so typical--of museums and the processes required to make them happen. Students will gain an understanding of schedules and budgets, the editorial process, design concepts, copyright issues, and printing, as well as how new technologies have affected both the way museums think about publications and how they get produced.

460.655 – Expanding Roles of Museum Marketing and Communications
From crisis communications to "guerrilla marketing," this course will explore the core responsibilities and the changing roles of museum marketing and communications operations in an era of increasing competition for people's time, attention, and resources, as well as the expanding methods of reaching old and new audiences through new media. Creative thinking and resourcefulness will be emphasized and models from throughout the world will be presented as launching pads for each lesson.

460.657 – Fundamentals of Museum Fundraising
Through a combination of current and historical readings, case studies, discussions, and written assignments based on “real-life” scenarios, this course will cover general fundraising strategies, ePhilanthropy, cultural tourism, prospect research, grant writing, annual and capital campaigns, corporate giving and cause marketing, special events and stewardship.

460.660 – Management of Technology in Museums
Every manager is constantly making decisions. To be better informed is to make better decisions. A successful manager of technology staff requires an understanding of the principles that support the various technologies in a museum environment, but does not necessarily have to be a technology professional. This course, tailored to individuals with little or no technology background, presents the principles necessary for any non-technical supervisor to have the tools and confidence to successfully oversee staff and production in a technical museum environment.

460.662 – Internet Strategies
The Internet has made it increasingly possible for museums to extend their mission by quickly and cost-effectively publishing information to a broad audience and expanding their reach to those who may never step foot inside their physical walls. At the same time, the Internet provides new tools to help museums attract and cultivate local audiences and enhance on-site visits. In this course, students will survey the many means and methods available to museums on the Internet, including informational Web pages, online exhibitions and collections, and newer tools such as blogs and podcasts. Consideration will be given to critical issues such as audience research, usability, legal matters, and participatory online culture.

460.667 – Collections Information Management Systems
Collections Information Management Systems are the foundation upon which staff members and public audiences access collections information for myriad purposes. No longer silos of data about collections care, these systems are now being integrated with digital asset and content management systems; are used as collaborative tools, and are part of production activities throughout the museum. This course examines how these systems have evolved from static information archives databases to repositories for interaction and production, while focusing on the fundamentals of planning for the acquisition and implementation of an enterprise-wide collections information management system. Students will undertake a series of practical assignments and activities, including how to conduct a needs assessment, define requirements, author a request for proposal, assess responses, select a system, define data entry standards, and implement a system in an institution.

460.682 – Procurement, Project Management, and Collaborations
Through case studies and sample materials of a variety of museum projects—with emphasis on complex multimedia transactions and online activity—students will gain a practical road map for defining a project, building internal support, soliciting proposals from vendors and contractors, and managing people, processes, and money. Students will learn best practices and acquire a deeper understanding of the contractual, legal, technical, and creative issues that museums typically face when working with vendors. Most importantly, students will acquire the tools necessary to help them navigate and set the expectations of their museum clients to assure successful collaboration between internal teams and external contractors.

460.750 – Museum Internship
An internship or project at a student's local museum, approved by the associate program chair, may be substituted for one elective course. To fulfill the internship requirement, a student must complete 80 hours of work onsite and a ten- to fifteen-page research paper on an approved topic related to his/her experience, due at the end of the semester. Before registering for the internship option, the student should contact the Associate Program Chair for approval. At least four to six weeks before the beginning of the semester in which the internship will take place, the student must submit: 1) a description of the intended project, including activities and/or responsibilities; 2) learning objectives and goals; 3) why this experience should be part of the Museum Studies degree; and 4) a signed letter of commitment from the internship supervisor.