Oregon Archives - Empowered Development Consulting

Nurturing Interest in Museum Careers through Summer Camp Fun

October 19, 2023October 20, 2023 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...

To Truly Understand Some Lack of Embarrassment is Key

February 6, 2023December 21, 2022 by Meghan SchiedelNo Comments

Why are kids so good at asking why? As adults, we also want to know why, but crucial differences between kids and us get in the way of really understanding why (or why we don’t) seek the answer. So whether you want to know why visitors to your museum are not coming back after their first visit or wonder why employee satisfaction is down, the keys lie in cultivating our inner child to get to the answer to both simple and complex questions. Kids’ lack of embarrassment is a key factor in their strengths in exploring the world around them. Toddlers and small children are not embarrassed about not knowing something. We, as adults, are terrified to look stupid in front of others. We are socialized to think that we are stupid if we don’t know something. Unfortunately, years of schooling and working in teams have provided plenty of experiences that enforced this idea. We may remember once asking why and...

I Ask AI for the Top Ten Tips to Train Your Employees

January 23, 2023December 21, 2022 by Meghan SchiedelNo Comments

Read the full post here. I recently wrote about what AI (ChatGPT) thinks are the ten most important practices in program evaluation, and when doing that, I was surprised at how accurate I found the results. This got me thinking. What would AI say are the top ten tips for training your employees? ChatGPT is a chatbot that uses GPT-3, a large language model developed by OpenAI, to generate natural-sounding responses to user input. It can engage in open-ended conversations on various topics and provide information on specific subjects if trained on relevant data. Here is what it said when I asked it the following question: “What are ten tips for training your employees?” AI's Top Ten Tips for Training Your Employees Clearly communicate the goals and objectives of the training.Make sure the training is relevant to the employees’ roles and responsibilities.Create a positive learning environment.Use a variety of training methods to accommodate different learning styles.Provide ample opportunities for employees to practice and apply...

I Ask AI bot ChatGPT About Program Evaluation

January 9, 2023December 21, 2022 by Meghan SchiedelNo Comments

I have recently seen the AI chatbot ChatGPT everywhere in my social feeds. ChatGPT uses GPT-3, a large language model developed by OpenAI, to generate natural-sounding responses to user input. It can engage in open-ended conversations on various topics and can even provide information on specific subjects if trained on relevant data. ChatGPT I saw Kyle Bowen from Museums As Progress use ChatGPT to write an invitation to the professional community he co-facilitates. I couldn’t help but wonder what ChatGPT should write the best practice for program evaluation in the style of the 10 Commandments. The results were surprisingly spot on. AI's 10 Commandments of Program Evaluation Thou shalt clearly define the purpose and goals of the evaluation.Thou shalt involve stakeholders in the design and implementation of the evaluation.Thou shalt use appropriate and reliable methods for data collection and analysis.Thou shalt ensure the evaluation is objective, unbiased, and transparent.Thou shalt report the findings and recommendations in a clear and concise manner.Thou shalt use the evaluation findings to inform decision-making and...

Change is Required

December 12, 2022November 3, 2022 by Meghan SchiedelNo Comments

The recently released publication, Change Is Required; Preparing for the Post-Pandemic Museum, is a culmination of essays by leading museum professionals as the entire field begins to adapt and change to cultural and professional realignment over the last two years. Some of the questions the book’s essayists ponder include: Can we break through traditional hierarchies to change our decision-making processes?Do we need to consider new shapes and structures for our organizations?How can we reform and update our hiring and advancement practices to support the needs of our people--and the sustainability of our institutions? Like many other organizations, the COVID-19 pandemic challenged American museums to rethink old assumptions and examine outdated models. The book gives examples of 50 American museums that have set new visions for themselves and their communities. Some examples featured in the essays include museums that have taken a decisive turn to digital programming and others that have changed focus toward community and developing new collaborations with their neighbors and local...

Are You Getting This?

November 28, 2022November 3, 2022 by Meghan SchiedelNo Comments

It is a widely shared experience to be hosting a training or workshop and look into the crowd of participants staring back at you and wonder, are they getting it? In the previous post, I shared about pre-assessments and how they can help your workshops or training become more engaging through proper pacing and meeting students where they are. In this post, I’ll share another form of assessment that will allow you to measure participants learning in real-time to give you information to improve your training to meet the needs of the participants. This type of assessment is often called formative assessment. What is a Formative Assessment? The Yale Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning defines formative assessment as a form that allows both instructor and student to monitor progress toward achieving learning objectives by identifying misconceptions, struggles, and learning gaps. These assessments are often characterized by their informal nature. They are usually embedded in a lesson and take less time to complete. They...

Power of the Pre-Assessment

November 14, 2022November 3, 2022 by Meghan SchiedelNo Comments

Are you planning a workshop or upcoming training? Wondering what the best way not to bore your trainees is? Or you might wonder, how should I assess employees’ existing knowledge? You might also be asking yourself, how do I know what they know or don’t know? All of these questions can be answered by using the power of the pre-assessment. Pre-assessment is crucial to ensure the proper pacing of information. For example, if you think people attending your training know more than they do, you risk jumping into the deep end with trainees who metaphorically don’t know how to swim. They might find your training confusing or overwhelming and leave with a sense that they weren’t understood or, even worse, that they are stupid or unable to learn content they should be able to grasp. Alternatively, if you don’t assess for knowledge that trainees already have, you might get feedback that the training was easy, not helpful, or even a...

Start at the End

July 4, 2022June 6, 2022 by Meghan SchiedelNo Comments

Can we think of training and development as a product that can be produced just like a chair or laptop? I would argue we can. Although not made of physical matter, a training has an audience whose goal is to create value for the customer. So if we think of a training as a product, we can apply design thinking to improve it. According to the Interaction Design Foundation, “design thinking is an iterative process in which you seek to understand your users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative solutions which you can prototype and test.” We engage in this type of thinking when we center training design around a deep interest in understanding the people for whom we design training. I love using this technique because it helps me and my clients observe and develop empathy with their staff. We get curious and begin asking better questions about how we share knowledge and skills. I recently read Matt Wallaert’s book Start At...

The Myth of Learning Styles

June 20, 2022June 6, 2022 by Meghan Schiedel1 Comment

Have you ever been taught something that seemed to make so much sense, and you accepted it as the “truth” only to later find out that it was false? I recently had that realization with Learning styles. When I was in grad school in 2008, learning styles were taught as the gospel truth. They are now so widely accepted that we don’t stop to question them when they are referenced. Did you know there is no credible evidence that learning styles exist?! In their article, The Myth of Learning Styles in Change The Magazine of Higher Learning (Riener, Willingham August 2010), Cedar Riener, assistant professor of psychology at Randolph-Macon College, and Daniel Willingham, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, break down this deeply held educational myth. It has me questioning everything! Not only is there no actual research supporting learning styles, but they also support racist, classist, and ableist views of learners. So why have they persisted for so...

Reflecting on Practice

June 7, 2022June 6, 2022 by Meghan SchiedelNo Comments

Recently, I held up my clock to a mirror. It was time for reflection– I am sorry; I couldn’t help myself! I have often been thinking about the role of reflection in training and staff development. This winter, I completed a professional learning program called Reflecting on Practice(RoP).* This program aims to allow informal educators to dive into the latest science on learning within a cohort model. The RoP project’s goals are to put research ideas into practice, transform its participants, and promote a culture of learning. This train-the-trainer model allows the program to reach millions of people in out-of-school settings like botanical gardens, museums, national parks, nature centers, and zoos every year. I found this program to be transformative because it fully embraced the social aspect of learning and professional development. The cohort model allows for many opportunities to interact in small groups or one-on-one with peers. The framework that they present is social as well. Educators are encouraged to enable...