| Master of Arts in Museum Education This is an exciting time to be a museum educator, for the
visitor experience now drives many museum decisions and
activities. The museum education field has expanded from a
narrow focus on teaching school children to a wide range of
activities that address social, civic, and personal matters.
Educators are helping their museums find new roles in fostering
community, addressing social issues, and providing forums for
multiple views and voices. They facilitate lifelong learning by
teaching visitors make their own connections and meanings.
Museum educators design and conduct programs for toddlers,
families, and Alzheimer's patients; policemen,
doctors-in-training, and parolees. Museum educators serve on
exhibition development teams, work with community groups, create
in-museum and Internet learning resources, and conduct in-person
and distance learning programs. Museum educators direct
departments and museums.
The Master of Arts in Museum Education is designed for those
interested in pursuing careers in art, history, science, and
children's museums.
The
two-year, eleven-course program is flexible enough to
accommodate students' needs and interests. Each student takes
five required
museum studies courses, two required education courses, and
four electives relating to the discipline of the student's area
of interest. The four electives form an important part of a
student's preparation for work in the field, for museum
educators need both content knowledge and strategies for
teaching that content. For instance, the science museum educator
may take science courses and a course in the teaching of
science. Since museum work is often interdisciplinary, the art
museum educator may find that learning to teach math helps her
develop museum programs that use art to teach math skills.
Graduate Certificate Program
The Office of Graduate Studies at Tufts University offers a
graduate level certificate program in Museum Studies with
concentrations in education, art history, history, and classics.
The certificate program consists of four courses and an
internship. Although this program does not lead to a master's
degree, courses taken as a certificate student can be applied to
the master's program in Museum Education if the student is
admitted into the Tufts M.A. Museum Education program. For more
information about the certificate program, please visit the
website.
Museum Education Learning Outcomes
- Understanding of museum issues in the 21st century
across the spectrum of museum types, and familiarity with
all aspects of museum operations and how they support
audiences and collections.
- Understanding of learning and human development theories
that influence museum education practice.
- Ability to assess the various needs, preferences, and
learning levels of multiple museum audiences.
- Ability to interpret primary and secondary sources,
including visual and material culture, quickly and
critically and to reshape it, through exhibitions, public
programs, school programs, new media, and written materials,
for a variety of audiences.
- Basic knowledge of the discipline of the museum field of
choice (such as art history, American history, science,
natural history, etc.)
- Ability to plan and implement museum-school and public
programs from concept, curriculum development, budgeting and
marketing to teaching and evaluation.
- Understanding of the importance of evaluation and basic
skills in designing and conducting evaluation studies.
- Ability to write for a variety of audiences at different
learning and reading levels.
- Ability to advocate for an idea, project, or program to
colleagues, donors, and funding agencies.
- Application of skills and knowledge gained through
coursework to the real-world setting of a museum.
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Watch a behind the scenes video from Exhibition Planning