Museum - Communication - Education [open]

Usually we think of the museum as a tidy storage of a collection of things tangible and intangible, living or inanimate, familiar or strange, the distal or the very recent past organized and presented to the public. If we wish, however, to attempt a less descriptive approach, we should think of the museum as a institutionalized, organized and controlled communicative relationship that develops between producers and consumers of museum exhibit, taking seriously into consideration the communicative role of its own museum of things. When visitors of the museum are confronted with museum objects and interpretive recommendations of experts the frame, consciously or unconsciously, form their own opinions about them, and make up their own conception of the past, art, technology, nature etc. We therefore approach the museum as a non-formal education that works according to intentions and methodological options of exhibitors and, of course, depending on the individual and collective identity of visitors. The course will examine the development of museum communication mechanisms emphasizing on the educational aspect. Specifically we will deal with: - The factors that determine the museum communicative relationship - The tools and practices used for its support - The need for a museum to know those who visit and those who avoid - The role of a museum in the formation of individual and collective knowledge - The educational characteristics of the museum and how they vary in parallel with the diversification of museological concepts on the one hand and pedagogical theories, on the other.

Objectives

The aim of this course is for the students to: - understand the communicative nature of a museum exhibition, and the factors affecting - become familiar with the different forms of direct and indirect communication which can be exploited by a museum and to assess in relation to different audiences - critically address the communication policy of a museum and to understand the contribution of specific communication options in shaping the overall image and the achievement of its objectives - to design and develop specific communication applications - be familiar with basic theoretical approaches to non-formal education and how they apply to the museum - evaluate and comment written and oral evidence of museum educational practice

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites

Syllabus

The beginning is half the battle "And if Ι speak with fairy tales and parables ..." Debate : Museum Sites "Alice in Wonderland" Lola here is an apple!" "The more good the student..." "My children learn letters..." The 'average' Guest and Other story-tails... "Far from the madding crowd" "Another for our boat!"