The Centre for the Future of Museums is a non-profit centre of the American Alliance of Museums. The goal of the centre is to help museums shape a better tomorrow. The centre monitors trends, provides resources for museums to help meet the challenges of their communities in the future and builds connections between museums and other sectors.
The TrendsWatch report is an annual overview of museum trends related to technology and education in museums as well as predictions for the coming decades. It compiles dispatches from the Centre for the Future of Museums based on compilations of research, blogs, media, news sources, conference proceedings and other writers both in and outside of the field. The report also provides case studies or examples of museums attempting these trends as well as a discussion of the potential dangers and opportunities of the trends reported. Each year, the TrendsWatch highlights 6 key identified trends in its report. This report is specific to educational technology trends related to the museum field. While the specificity of this report is a benefit to those working in museums, the trends reported may also be applied to other learning contexts where the boundaries between traditional classroom/institutional style learning and alternative education are becoming blurred.
The current Future of Museums Trendswatch is here.
A note on the ‘open’ aspect here, their ‘TrendsWatch’ is hidden behind a paywall.
It is important to remember that learning does not just happen in schools. We know that real world experiences provide value to the learning process. Important and effective learning can happen in museums.
Great website offers variety information related to Museums. The category on “Educational programming” has the content that especially designed to link with the P-12 Education curriculum. There are many good resources could be used by educators in the field of history, language, culture and economics. However as a non-profit organization the website can’t be fully accessed without a paid membership is a pity.
It is interesting to watch how museums are transforming and becoming more interactive and not just a shrine of antiquities. Technology seems to be at the forefront of this movement and museums are embracing it.