Are We on the Same Page? Family and Museum Staff Perceptions of Engagement and Learning

Please join us for a book club-style discussion hosted by VSA's Professional Development Work Group. We will discuss the 2019 article, "Are We on the Same Page? Family and Museum Staff Perceptions of Engagement and Learning.” The Conversation will be directed by the interests and input of participants, but some topics we would like to explore include: Staff and parents had slightly different perceptions of what behaviors most strongly indicated engagement (p. 220). What are the behaviors we as evaluators usually look for? Are they different from the measures presented here by educators? Do you have experience with others? What might we be missing? How can evaluators build a study and balance findings from two important audiences to draw conclusions about program success? Staff and parents agree that the museum visit combines learning and social experience (p. 219). Considering the similarities, what ideas translate to our work in negotiating the complexities of learning and social experiences when conducting evaluation? In our current crisis, what are the "new and future demands of visitors, particularly families with preschool aged children" for evaluators and educators to explore?