Advantages of the Program

There are numerous advantages to an online program that are attractive to the museum professional who has experience in the field. Among them are the following.

• The program is designed specifically for adult, part-time students, who already have museum experience and usually have a job.
• The program is less expensive than a resident program.
• The program is semester-based and relies encouraging on the student's commitment to make progress.
• The students can keep their jobs while participating in the online degree program.
• The students do not have to take time away from their jobs and families.
• Students who are in rural areas, isolated, or face physical challenges can participate.
• Students can apply learning immediately to their museums; make connections between the material and their own lives.
• The students are highly motivated because they have made a substantial commitment in expense and time.
• The tuition, fees, and books are the same as residence programs at OU.

Disadvantages of the Program

By no means is an online program or "wired academy" a perfect solution to creating new museum models and better leaders and mangers in the field. The perceived magic of the Internet is not a replacement for real experience with the real magic of items upon which all museums are founded. There are many limitations due to the non-physical contact between faculty and students. Among the problems are:

• There is a lack of face-to-face contact often so stimulating and telling.
• There is difficulty in teaching or learning lab or hands-on courses (e.g., collections care).
• Testing and evaluation is limited but becoming more flexible as educational online technology improves: Students enrolled in the OU/MSPO are graded primarily on the papers that they write as part of their assignments although objective quizzes are now possible.
• Interaction as a group is limited but discussion boards and email exchange by asynchronous design has enhanced accessibility.
• Quality of degree can be questioned. The faculty of the OU/MSPO opinioned that a traditional disciplinary degree in the sciences or arts is likely to be more valuable than an online degree.

Evaluation

Students in the CLS are encouraged to complete an optional online evaluation of their courses. For students enrolled in Online Museum Studies, the evaluation covers 18 reference points. Initial results for the MSPO are encouraging but limited by small sample size of 27% of students (N=8). Overall evaluation of the program was ranked above avereage and excellent in several points such as critical and independent thinking and organization for non-traditional students. However, other points such as contributions by the instructor and the amount learned were ranked as average or good. The latter are areas for improvements. Anecdotal response from students has been excellent.

I interviewed four of the MSPO professors and add my own comments as professor of the course "Museum Leadership and Management". All of us are in favor of a more formal evaluation designed specifically for the students and courses of the MSPO. Our primary concern is "How much are the students learning?" However, we also have questions regarding the need for new teaching methods, how we can encourage research, how the experience of the students can be better utilized, and how we can maximize the dynamic of cadre/cohort student interaction. To answer these and other questions, our plan is to design an evaluation program working with professional evaluators. We see the need for front-end surveys of students and faculty and administrators including interviews and online questionnaires. In addition, we will perform formative evaluations of students and summative evaluations of extreme case sampling of students (e.g., advances in the profession and maximum variation sampling of students). Objective assessment of the program has become possible.