Reinventing University Museum Studies for the Pandemic and Post-Pandemic World

Focused Discussion
Laura-Edythe Coleman,  Heather McLaughlin  

Museums and the university programs that train new museum professionals have struggled to compensate for the difficulties of the pandemic. Now, as we begin to surface from the depths of the pandemic, we have a moment to reflect on what we should change. Instead of seeing the pandemic restrictions as confining, our graduate program in museum leadership has leveraged this moment to create new ways of training museum professionals. While we have offered classes online for more than a decade, the pandemic pushed our professors to craft virtual experiences to replace the traditional hands-on practicum/apprenticeships. Not satisfied with Zoom, we have embarked on a journey to create augmented and virtual reality educational materials. In this focused discussion session, participants will have the opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of shifting to virtual instruction methods to teach the next generation of museum professionals about material culture. In particular, we will focus on the role of new instructional methodologies to create an equitable and inclusive education for museum students in a post-pandemic world.