Nurturing Interest in Museum Careers through Summer Camp Fun

Nurturing Interest in Museum Careers through Summer Camp Fun

by Meghan SchiedelNo Comments
Students from Shelton Murphey Johnson House (SJM House)  in Eugene, Oregon, set out to answer in a pilot program of their Museum Career Intensive Summer Camp work on their exhibit plans. What is a Museum? What does it take to make a Museum ‘tick?’ This is the central question that the campers at Shelton Murphey Johnson House (SJM House)  in Eugene, Oregon, set out to answer in a pilot program of their Museum Career Intensive Summer Camp. This brand-new summer camp was the brainchild of Leah Murray and was made possible by a community grant from the Lane County Cultural Coalition. The week-long camp focused on careers within the museum industry. Campers learned what goes into each department of a museum and the various skill sets that are required to make a museum (or zoo, nature center, or aquarium) work.  Campers got to explore and learn these skills using a project-based learning model, where they created a public exhibition that was presented...
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Happier Hour and The Power of Fun

Happier Hour and The Power of Fun

by Meghan SchiedelNo Comments
Recently I read two books that had interesting points of intersection. The first was The Power of Fun by Catherine Price, and the second was Happier Hour by Cassie Holmes. On a fundamental level, both books look at how you spend your time. Both books are working to present a new way of thinking about time management and “productivity.” Neither are explicitly business books, but we can learn a lot from applying these individualized approaches to staff training, development, and retention. With “quiet quitting” being a hot business topic, I think leaders could gain much insight from these two books.  Employees are looking for a work culture where they feel valued and respected. Most would argue that adequate compensation for their work is the most important thing. Still, another important factor is whether or not a place of work supports healthy boundaries and the ability to care for both your physical and mental health. I hope you will consider reading these...
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A Metaverse of Possibility

A Metaverse of Possibility

by Meghan SchiedelNo Comments
As instructional designers, we often aim to create more engaging and immersive ways for our participants to learn new information and skills. As digital learning has increased, so have the options for those looking to utilize its power. Virtual reality and the metaverse are new emerging technology that breaks the walls of the traditional training classroom is virtual reality and the metaverse. If you want to understand the metaverse, it is helpful to think of the current internet we use as a solo 2D experience built on video and flat web pages. In comparison, ‘The Metaverse’ is the marketing term used for the evolution of the internet into a shared 3D social experience in virtual worlds. Learning is a social experience; therefore, the potential of this new medium to unlock unprecedented learner engagement and speed of content acquisition is very exciting.  What’s the difference between ‘virtual reality (VR)’ and the metaverse?  Virtual Reality (VR) is the term used to describe a three-dimensional,...
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What It feels Like to Attend a Bad Training

by Meghan SchiedelNo Comments
We all know what it feels like to attend bad training or professional development session. If you are like me, you might even have a pretty visceral reaction, or worse, you can’t remember the training at all.  So what are some of the signs of lousy professional training?  You have no idea why you are there or what you are supposed to get out of the training.You feel resentful about being there and wish you could be anywhere else.Despite how hard you try, you can’t stay focused and keep checking your phone, thinking of the other places you would like to be, or things that you would rather do.You leave the training not knowing anyone else who was attending the training.You are never given the opportunity to share your knowledge or input with the group. The instructor-made training tool is what seems like an endless deck of PowerPoint slides, each with approximately 500 words on them.Your butt hurts from sitting in one position...
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How It All Started

by Meghan SchiedelNo Comments
The seeds for Empowered Development Consulting were planted early. After completing my graduate work at the Center for Science Education (CSE), I left with a passion for enhancing science education and learning through innovative teaching, research, and community outreach programs. CSE provided me not only my Master of Science Teaching and my classroom credentials, they taught me the power of community connections to make lasting change in our world. They were always clear that the big picture goal for all of this work was to help students and teachers raise their capacity to participate in the community as informed citizens. In other words, empower people with confidence in science not so they can become our future scientists, but so they become our future leaders and active members of our communities, making choices to improve their lives and the lives of others!   After a few years in the classroom, I had the opportunity to take my dream job at a brand new...
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