Practical Evaluation Guide: Tools for Museums and Other Informal Educational Settings / Edition 3

by Judy Diamond, Michael Horn founder, Entangled Solutions; co-founder of Innosight; co-author, "Disrupti, David H. Uttal

Overview

Administrators of museums and other informal-learning centers often need to demonstrate, in some tangible way, the effectiveness of their institutions as teaching tools. Practical Evaluation Guide discusses specific methods for analyzing audience learning and behavior in museums, zoos, botanic gardens, nature centers, camps, and youth programs.

Evaluation is essential because it allows you to answer critical questions like:

• How can one measure the impacts of educational experiences in a museum, zoo, or aquarium?
• Are digital technologies more effective than traditional exhibits for enhancing visitor interest and understanding?
• How does one measure learning in these informal environments where visitors themselves decide what they will experience?
• Since we know many visitors come to informal institutions for social interaction and play, how does one access these social impacts?

The Practical Evaluation Guide is an all-in-one resource to guide professionals working in museums and other informal educational institutions. This new edition includes updates throughout and features a brand-new chapter on evaluating digital interactive exhibits. The section on observational tools includes a new section on using video recordings and the section on interviews includes recent studies from countries outside the U.S.

Practical Evaluation Guide serves as a basic, easy-to-follow guide for museum professionals and students who want to understand the effects of such public institutions on the people who visit them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442263543
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	03/01/2016
Series:	American Association for State and Local History
Edition description:	Third Edition
Pages:	162
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Judy Diamond is professor and curator of informal science education at the University of Nebraska State Museum. A biologist and science educator, she is the author of over 40 publications on informal learning. She has a long career working in science museums, first as curriculum developer at the Lawrence Hall of Science, as evaluator and project coordinator at the Exploratorium, and as deputy director for public programs at the San Diego Natural History Museum.

Michael Stephen Horn is assistant professor of learning sciences and computer science at Northwestern University where he directs the Tangible Interaction Design and Learning Lab. Horn earned a PhD in Human Computer Interaction from Tufts University in 2009 and has been developing innovative technology-based learning experiences for museum and other informal learning environments for over ten year. His research interests involve understanding the role of cultural forms in shaping participating and learning around physical and technological artifacts. He is the author of over 30 scholarly articles and his work can be seen at the Museum of Science, Boston, the California Academy of Sciences, the Field Museum, and the Computer History Museum.

David H. Uttal is professor of psychology and education at Northwestern University. He holds a doctorate in developmental psychology from the University of Michigan, and he is the author of over 50 articles and book chapters. His research interests are in the development of children’s thinking, with a focus on symbolic and spatial reasoning, and his work has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Institute of Education Sciences. At Northwestern he directs the multidisciplinary program in education sciences, which trains graduate students from different disciplines to conduct rigorous research in educational contexts.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Preface

Part I Evaluating Informal Learning
Chapter 1 Thinking through an Evaluation
Chapter 2 Informal Learning
Chapter 3 Measuring Learning
Chapter 4 Protecting Study Participants
Part II Evaluation Tools
Chapter 5 Selecting Study Participants
Chapter 6 Observational Tools
Chapter 7 Interviews and Questionnaires
Chapter 8 Presenting and Analyzing Data
Part III Evaluating Digital Media: Opportunities and Pitfalls
Chapter 9 Evaluating Digital Interactive Exhibits
Chapter 10 Tools for Evaluating Digital Exhibits
Part IV Evaluation as Practice
Chapter 11 Making Evaluation Count
References

Index
About the Authors

Editorial Reviews

It is timely that the second edition of the Practical Evaluation Guide has landed on our doorstep in a revised format, including two additional authors and updated case examples. As was the 1999 edition, the Practical Evaluation Guide is an essential resource for the beginning and experienced evaluator working in large or small organisations....Part 2 makes this book an invaluable resource. It is written in a user-friendly format, is clear and concise, again with many practical examples drawn from museums and other informal learning settings....An essential reference for anyone working in any area of museums and informal educational settings, not only those in evaluation and audience research.

Visitor Studies

An extraordinary book! This volume is a user-friendly roadmap for helping museum educators use innovative research tools to evaluate the success of their programs. Judy Diamond and her colleagues present assessment tools and strategies that allow both educators and participants to see more clearly what kinds of learning take place in informal environments. This book will be of great value to all teachers who want to expand their skills and satisfy their curiosity.

Richard Ponzio

Practical and thorough, this straightforward guide emphasizes that data alone, no matter how extensive, cannot substitute for careful planning and expertise in interpretation. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.

April 2010 CHOICE

The increasing emphasis on evaluation from government and private granting sources makes evaluation not an option - but an imperative. The revised Practical Evaluation Guide should be required reading by novice and expert evaluators, funders and grant recipients, and anyone who wants to understand the museum enterprise.

Zahava D. Doering

Practical Evaluation Guide belongs on the bookshelf of every museum professional involved in exhibit design, production, or evaluation. This new edition takes into account the latest research as well as information provided by the National Research Council and National Science Foundation. A very welcome resource for the field!

Erika Shugart

This essential guide to evaluation in informal settings is now updated. Practical Evaluation Guide fills an important niche for first-time evaluators and seasoned professionals. The new evaluator can quickly pick up some basic tools and try them out, whereas the more experienced professional will find the expanded coverage on learning assessment and IRBs a useful adjunct in the current era of educational accountability. Highly recommended for evaluation courses in museum studies and similar programs.

E. Margaret Evans