In its initial testing, the students of the Distance Education program were selected to represent a museum professionals from as diverse backgrounds as possible. Students were selected from all over the U.S., from organizations including history museums, science and technology museums, tribal museums, children's museums, historic sites and cultural centers. The size of these museums also varied greatly.
"This program is invaluable for museum professionals at any stage in their career. GW is making its expert coursework available to those otherwise unable to attend in person. I encourage everyone to take advantage of this unique opportunity. "
- Kimberly McCarty, Pensbury Manor, Morrisville, Pennsylvania
"This is program is just wonderful for professionals in small to medium-sized museums who have small staffs and budgets. Many of us can ill afford time away from our facilities to attend classes, and often museum studies programs are located too far away to commute easily. With this program, I was able to continue working and supplement my professional skill set with the highest standard of coursework. Thank you GWU!"
- Lynita Langley-Ware, Faulkner County Museum, Conway, Arkansas
"The GWU Museum Studies Distance Education Program is a fantastic way to expand your museum knowledge or refresh what you learned in college. The program covers all aspects of museum work from handling and storage to legal issues and the paperwork necessary to run a modern museum. All this is done using real world example and true-to-life scenarios. I highly recommend the Distance Education Program to anyone in the museum field who wants to know their job better."
- Karen Barlow, Campbell County Rockpile Museum, Gilette, Wyoming
Collections Management: Legal and Ethical Issues
"I have learned so much more about what should be done in specific situations."
"I think the legal aspects [discussed in this course] are fascinating, and I am amazed at the different perspectives and interpretations of things."
"The material is highly relevant. All facets of each session complement each other extremely well. The pace of the course allows for steady progress without becoming overwhelming. The real world examples are excellent."
"I feel like I am learning so much that can be automatically put to use in my daily activities."
Collections Management: Practical Applications
"I appreciated the freedom to work from home or at the office."
"I really liked [the CD-Rom] delivery, because you could do it whenever and wherever you wish. For those of us working full-time, this is a great feature!"
"Loved it. Great reference and resource-very helpful and straight forward."
"Many of the sample policies and procedure documents we've looked at have helped me to update [my museum's] internal documents.They also provided me with a nice benchmark to compare our existing policies and procedures."
"Every session or assignment/project has improved my knowledge and made me better at my job." "I just got a new position for which I would not previously have been qualified!"
"Recently I attended our museum systems annual conference. For the first time I felt completely at ease. There was not a single collection management issue raised that I did not have a fundamental, if not detailed, understanding of."
Preventive Conservation: Philosophy and Theory
"The video lectures have been outstanding, presenting complex material incisively and clearly; they're not only informative, they're interesting."
Preventive Conservation: Practical Applications
"As far as content, all I can say is Wow! is this stuff ever helpful! And the topics have been very timely too. Sometimes I wonder if this course was tailor -made just for me."
"Discussion boards are helpful. [I] have learned so much and appreciate Prof. Hawks comments and replies to [my] questions. It's like having a conservator on call."
" I have a "big picture" view of the different actions I need to take for preventive care and more of a sense of how to balance them."
30 students from a variety of types and sizes of museums from around the country participated in the initial Distance Education MCMC pilot program.
In initial testing, 88% of students rated the accessibility of research resources highly.