The Next Steps

We can produce new and better leaders with an online museum studies program. We are already seeing the results as several students have indicated the value to their current postions or are able to seek better positions. However well trained and experienced, the new leaders are likely to face the same old difficult problems with the governance of their museums. Administrators, board members, and trustees are not trained or experienced in museums. They are almost always in their positions because of their successes or expertise in an occupation or field other than museums such as business. While this can be helpful in areas such as fundraising, it can be a disaster if they treat the museum as a for-profit enterprise with a dollar-driven budget. How can we increase their educational understanding of museums? Great leaders can ignite change, but they will need help to change the field. Can online courses be agents of change? To improve the leadership in the museums community, the Program Oversight Committee must also address questions such as "Why not provide short, interactive, online courses for administrators, board members, and trustees?" ClS has indicated that such units may be provided as non-credit, low cost, modules on CD-ROMS.

The Program Oversight Committee also is seeking more methods of delivery for museum courses that are difficult to teach in an online format. Training in important skills such as exhibit design and fabrication require a significant amount of hands-on participation with the teacher. For these courses, the Committee is considering a format that includes an element of in-residence experience on campus at the SNOMNH and the JMA. This experience may take the form of an intership or highly concentrated training session.

Summary

Online, distance learning, museums studies programs can act as agents of change. They can help create new models of professional practice that will be fluid, dynamic, flexible, responsive and driven by vision, intention, context and theory. Online programs also can prepare a new generation of creative and thoughtful leaders. In the Museum Studies Program Online at the University of Oklahoma, solutions are being researched and put into practice by a new crop of professionals who are better trained and equipped to enhance the future of museums. Online museum studies programs are one of the best places to encourage research that challenges existing models, rather than replicating them. There are five integral components to building a successful online program: the Student, the Faculty Member, the Network Manager, the Curriculum Cooridinator, and the Curriculum Web Site Developer. By their interaction, a high level of faculty/student cohort interaction and a matrix of experiences are possible maximizing the power of the Internet. Key to the success of the program is a Program Oversight Committee of highly trained and experienced museum professionals from university museums and collections.

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