Exploration of “Best Practices”
Among Art Museums in Developing
Web Resources for Teachers
Denver Art Museum Education Department
Patterson Williams, Manager of School Programs
Jocelyn Howell, Project Coordinator
and
Gretchen DeSciose, Manager of Teacher programs
Funded by the Berger Collection Educational Trust
September 28, 2007
How We Did the Study
In 2007, with funding from the Berger Collection Educational Trust, the Denver Art
Museum Education Department conducted a study to learn more about the “best
practices” among museums in developing online resources for teachers. This study
addresses two main questions: 1) What are the different types of content that teachers
most want (images, artist biographies, timelines, lesson plans, etc.)? 2) How can this
content be organized in a way that teachers find accessible and easy to use?
A number of methods were used to collect information related to our research questions:
1) Survey of Websites
To familiarize ourselves with online resources currently being offered to teachers,
we reviewed a long list of museum websites with teacher resources. We selected
sites based on their content as well as layout, or how easy it was to use. We also
solicited suggestions from a number of other people, including DAM
publications, technology and education staff; and staff at two museums with
which we have a long-standing collaboration, the Seattle Art Museum, and the
High Museum of Art in Atlanta. In addition to reviewing the sites recommended
to us, we looked at a number of websites that had been nominated in the “Best of
the Web” Education category for the Museums and the Web conference, in the
past five years. We reviewed all of the sites according to three main categories of
judgment: 1) Ease of Navigation; 2) Well-Written for Target Audience; 3)
Accessible Organizing Framework. After reviewing each site, we decided on a list
of the “best sites,” and picked out each one’s strong components (images,
information, lesson plans, interactivity, etc.). See report binder for summary
sheets on selected sites.
2) Literature Search
We requested that colleagues at other art museums share any completed research
that addressed questions similar to ours. We found a few studies that institutions
had conducted in order to evaluate websites as they were developing them. We
also discovered more general studies that addressed teacher use of the internet, as
well as teacher and student access to the Internet in schools. To make sure we had
found everything that might be useful, we hired Randi Korn & Associates, a
museum evaluation firm, to do a full literature search. They summarized a number
of studies in an annotated bibliography that contains key findings from each of the
studies that they found. All of the studies that we found are included in the report
binder.
3) Talking with Experts
We contacted a number of people who have experience in creating and
maintaining Internet resources for teachers in order to get their take on “best
practices” for developing teacher web resources. We started with Robin Dowden,
New Media Initiatives Director at the Walker Art Center. Robin had been part of
the team that developed the ArtsConnectEd website, one of the largest and oldest
2
teacher resource sites among art museums, which features the collections of the
Walker and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. She suggested a couple more people
to contact who, in turn, suggested others, and so on. We ended up speaking with a
variety of individuals, including a graduate student who is currently writing her
thesis on teacher use of the web; an independent consultant who works with
museums to develop educational resources and technology; and a number of
museum educators. Notes from all of these conversations are included in the
report binder.
4) Workshops with Consultant Experts
After speaking with experts at different institutions, we selected two individuals
who have extensive knowledge and experience including a front-line role in
creating, coordinating and maintaining their museums’ online teacher resources.
Ashley Weinard, from the North Carolina Museum of Art, and Dina Helal, Head
of Online Education at the Whitney Museum of American Art, each lead a daylong workshop in Denver, walking us through their websites. They talked about
the development of the content found on their site, as well as the development of
the site itself. They addressed the challenges they faced and gave
recommendations based on what they had learned. They talked about tasks that
need to be taken into consideration in terms of maintaining web resources for
teachers. And they shared things they would do differently with hindsight. Notes
from their workshops and materials they shared are included in the report binder.
5) Local Teacher Survey
To collect more information about ways our local teachers use technology, we
sent out a survey, via email, to 1,600 teachers who are mostly from the Denver
area. We used an existing network that we have developed through our Teacher
Art Mail program—a newsletter that teachers, and anyone interested in programs
that we offer for teachers, can sign up to receive. We created the survey using
SurveyMonkey—user-friendly software for creating online surveys
(www.surveymonkey.com). We received 201 responses. Most survey respondents
were classroom teachers; however, there were a few museum educators, home
school teachers, and people who teach in capacities outside of a traditional
classroom. Teachers responded to basic questions about the number of computers
they have in their classroom, as well as questions about how they use the Internet
for both professional development and classroom teaching. They also addressed
the obstacles that they face that keep them from using the Internet in the
classroom. The survey questions and responses can be found in the report binder.
3
BEST PRACTICES RECOMMENDATIONS
Outline Version
A. GENERAL BEST PRACTICES FOR ART COLLECTION TWR
1. Create clear goals, target audiences, and descriptions of success for your
TWR.
2. Start small and simple and build over time.
3. Plan on continuing development of your TWR after its initial phase, perhaps
for the foreseeable future.
5. Focus on permanent collections.
6. Make TWR that are primarily for use in the classroom or for teacher
preparation, and only secondarily for use in preparing for museum visits.
7. Take into consideration the laws regarding copyright, especially as related to
living artists and their art work.
8. Do NOT underestimate the staff time needed to create and maintain TWR. Be
smart about efficient ways to work.
9. Do evaluation as an integral part of developing and maintaining TWR.
B. BEST PRACTICES FOR MAKING TWR WORK FOR TEACHERS
1. Provide WHAT teachers want.
FIRST: Images
SECOND: “Authentic” information about the images/art
THIRD: Classroom lesson ideas
FOURTH: Useful forms of interactivity
2. Provide what teachers want in WAYS that make it accessible to teachers.
a. Make it obvious, intuitive and clear
b. Make it sortable for teacher use
c. Make it printable
d. Make it versatile and flexible for varied use
e. The way it looks counts
B. BEST PRACTICES FOR CREATING, MAINTAINING AND GROWING
TWR
1. Use a content management system that is as easy to use for adding and
revising content as Microsoft Word.
2. Integrate teacher feedback at key points in the development process and for
ongoing revision and growth.
3. Write it for the web AND for teachers.
4. How fresh do TWR need to be?
Include a “what’s new” section, but don’t forget that teachers most often teach
the same subject year after year and use the same resources.
5. Special issues that may need additional research.
4
1. accessibility issues – i.e. for visually impaired
2. languages
C. BEST PRACTICES FOR GETTING TEACHERS TO USE THE WEB
RESOURCES
All of the studies that we found of web use, Internet access, and technology in
schools suggest that:
1. Fast web access is on the increase in schools.
2. Teachers use the web primarily as a source for their own teaching and
secondarily as a place to send students.
3. There is still a great deal of variation in individual teacher comfort levels with
use of images, Internet, and technology in general.
4. Take into consideration Internet use and safety and privacy issues.
5. Building and expanding use of TWR is a long term endeavor and needs to
include teacher training and marketing on the part of the originating
institutions.
5
Recommendations for Teacher Web Resources
What are BEST PRACTICES among art museums in 2007?
INTRODUCTION
This report is based on a substantial (but not exhaustive) inquiry in to how art
museums are developing teacher web resources in 2007. At this time there are no
generally accepted, formal “best practices” in this area. Some even argue that each
museum is unique enough that we should not have prescriptive guidelines for
creating teacher web resources, and that each museum should go its own way.
While some museums are in their 15+ year of having web-based teacher resources,
others still have minimal or no teacher resources online. Museums in Minnesota, for
example, have been part of a long-term, collaborative project, statewide and statefunded, to create extensive web-based teacher resources. Most museums, however,
have been developing individual institutional resources. In 2003 100% of art
museums surveyed had a museum website. 57% had a portion of their collections
online and 55% offered activities or lessons online for students and/or teachers.
Current practice is a mixed bag in terms of scope of online teacher resources, and in
terms of length of experience in providing such resources.
Most teacher web resources (TWR) have been developed using a combination of
limited exploration of other museum and non-museum websites, the judgment of
experienced museum educators who work with schools, and some input from
teachers. Some TWR development included user studies, both formal and informal.
There is no exhaustive study of teacher use of art museum teacher web resources.
Although this study has limitations, it does provide a useful oversight and practical
suggestions for development of teacher web resources. Each institution developing
such resources must ask itself basic questions about the ultimate scope and size of
the resources, how fast they will be developed, and what they fundamentally want to
get out of creating teacher web resources. The Denver Art Museum and the Berger
Collection Educational Trust (BCET), for example, may take different approaches
to their own TWR depending on staff and financial resources and institutional
goals. The rules of thumb listed below, however, provide a useful basis for
organizing, selecting, and creating teacher web resources based on art collections.
In addition to the recommendations below, report writers are able to do show and
tell presentations to look at specific locations in selected websites that we believe are
good models of how teacher web resources might be presented. We strongly
recommend using what has already been developed and tested by insightful museum
staff as models. There is no need to do a traditional start-up for TWR given how
much others have learned thus far.
6
In general, teachers want useful resources. Fundamental criteria for usefulness are
largely universal among U.S. teachers. Much work has already been done in this
area and can be used to create an efficient and practical path for creating resources
for teachers at the DAM and the BCET. That said, for each kind of collection,
teacher grade-level, and subject there will be specific needs to address. For
example, the DAM has worked with teachers to look at web resources related to its
American Indian collections and based on what was learned, DAM may want to
make it possible for teachers to organize American Indian art around geographical
regions, since this is how teachers tend to present this subject. Similar investigation
needs to be done to see what organizational principle may be most useful for
teachers in terms of British art. It may be by chronology, subject matter, or other
organizational frameworks.
This report does not include technical recommendations. We thought it was best to
begin with a good look at the intended users and what they would need.
BEST PRACTICES RECOMMENDATIONS
A.
GENERAL BEST PRACTICES FOR ART COLLECTION TWR
1. Create clear goals, target audiences, and descriptions of success for your
TWR.
Write clear goals for your TWR. Add to this further description of what success
looks like from the museum’s perspective, and from the teacher or user
perspective. Make sure these goals are adopted with full understanding by key
museum and funding stakeholders.
Clear goals are important for institutional decision-making and for
communicating with teachers. In general, people learn what they want from an
online resource. The designers and developers of a given resource should not
assume that people will use it as expected. The resource should allow the user to
be selective in their use, and should not prescribe use. But an online resource
should still clearly convey to its users the scope and purpose of the TWR:
-have a clear target audience
-clearly state what the resource offers the target audience
-offer easy suggestions for use
Example of goal development:
The Whitney Museum of American Art TWR has a clear goal statement from museum and teacher
perspectives: “The key objectives in developing this educational website were to provide
strategies and tools that could facilitate the use and integration of images into school classrooms,
and to make concrete connections between the Whitney’s resources, current pedagogical
directives, and the process by which teachers design curriculum.” 1 But it would have added
substance and practicality to have a list of targeted audiences such as art and/or social studies
teachers, elementary and/or secondary teachers, pre-service teachers in college learning how to
teach, local/regional and/or national/international users. Descriptions of what success looks like
7
also help guide use of resources. For example, which describes museum success, 100 users in the
first year or 1000? Or testimonies from individual teachers that describe powerful examples of use
with students and give supporting evidence from samples of student work?
2. Start small and simple and build over time.
Most museums have had to simplify their original TWR in order to be an
efficient, valuable, and user-friendly resource in the school environment. They
have often had to pare down interactive components, and expand the number of
images and amount of information available.
Teachers with less-reliable and slower Internet access are looking for a site with
fewer “bells and whistles” to use with their students in the short classroom
periods available to them. These teachers were generally looking for images to
share with students to spark group conversations, or to use in studio art activities.
Museum websites must account for how easily a site can be accessed in a school
setting. School computers have limitations in their ability to use complex
programs. Because school computers vary widely in how they are administered
and what they provide, the guideline “the simpler the better” applies.





BUILD SLOWLY
don’t be too ambitious in the beginning
start with your strongest element first
stick with 2-dimensional objects as much as possible
start small and do a really good job – easier to get funding to add components
later if you have something great to show that you’ve already done
Plan for future growth from the beginning by identifying aspects of a site that are
likely to grow and include place holders for such critical future elements.
3. Plan on continuing development of your TWR after its initial phase, perhaps
for the foreseeable future.
It is essential to include website evaluation, modification, and maintenance in any
future plans. It will be necessary to collaborate with school educators periodically
to assess, revise, and modify the tools and resources. Schools never stop evolving
so this work never completely stops either.
4. Focus on permanent collections.
Make resources that can be used over the long haul. Many temporary exhibition
websites last for only a limited time since rights to use artwork images are not
permanent. Make sure you have the rights for long term use of TWR images.
The permanent collection is also a museum’s unique resource for sharing, and
probably what teachers will come to your site to find.
5. Make TWR that are primarily for use in the classroom or for teacher
preparation.
8
Vastly more teachers and students will use art collections in the classroom than
will visit the museum. Integrating use of artworks into multiple study areas
(visual arts AND language arts, for example) will be easier to accomplish with
online resources than with museum visits as a key ingredient. Many schools in
Colorado, for example, may have one field trip per year and must choose among
many options. Currently, art and social studies teachers use the DAM’s tours the
most.
6. Take into consideration the laws regarding copyright, especially as related to
living artists and their art work.
For example, the Whitney Museum of American Art has not put up all of the
images available because they have a lot of copyright costs - $250/image for a
limited number of years, with renewals to keep track of and pay. These fees are
paid to the artist’s estate, ARA, or VAGA (both are main artists rights holders).
7. Do NOT underestimate the staff time needed to create and maintain TWR.
Be smart about efficient ways to work.
Museums consistently underestimated the amount of time it would take to move
their TWR project forward. Frank assessments of the amount of staff time and
funding are critical. Making a smaller TWR and then growing it may be a more
realistic approach for many museums. Another way to tackle these challenges is
to re-purpose existing written materials and teacher resources. However, the need
for special web formats and writing styles must also be taken into account when
re-purposing existing materials.
8. Do evaluation as an integral part of developing and maintaining TWR.
While taking into consideration the evaluation already done by other museums,
we recommend the use of several approaches to evaluation. In general, the staff
responsible for creating and maintaining TWR should conduct their own ongoing
studies of users. The degree to which staff can do this will depend on their
experience and training in visitor/user evaluation. DAM education staff, for
example, have been trained in a variety of evaluation methods and have a good
sense of when to do it themselves and when it is more appropriate to use outside
experts. In general, the more one is riding on a decision the more one needs
outside experts. For many ongoing issues related to vocabulary, writing styles,
and usefulness of lesson ideas, evaluation can be done moderately well by trained
staff who are able to be in contact with consulting experts via email.
When to evaluate?
Enough good advice and evaluation has been done to suggest that one may want
to begin with a set of 25 images accompanied by information and lesson ideas,
based on “best practices” as noted in this report. Once that set is in draft form it
should be evaluated by teachers. This evaluation should be coordinated by outside
experts since it marks a key step in creating a model for further development.
9
Prior to this point, trained museum staff might use teacher consultants and panels
(similar to focus groups) to test the selection of works to be featured, major
sorting methods, and specific lesson ideas.
Once the site has been in use for a period of time, careful examination of how the
site is being used should be undertaken.
How to evaluate?
Once evaluation questions and target audiences have been defined, the methods
below would be used selectively. A combination of methods is better than
reliance on one single method. And this is an iterative process, so evaluation is
ongoing and never really stops.
Evaluation strategies include:
 usability studies
 focus groups and/or visitor panels
 interviews
 online surveys
 feedback forums
 usage data
For further definitions see the ARTstor report files in this notebook.
B. BEST PRACTICES FOR MAKING TWR WORK FOR TEACHERS
1. Provide WHAT teachers want.
Online museum resources should be authentic, local, and specific to a given
museum. They should highlight the unique selling points of a museum (i.e., real
objects and professional expertise in interpreting them). Here is a list of key
things teachers seem to use and want:
FIRST: Images
 A “Gallery” of digital images of works of art will be the core resource
for all users. This gallery can start with 25 images or 100 and should
grow over time. A sample gallery with a limited numbers of images (25)
can be tested with teachers and refined as a smart first step. This gallery
of images is probably the area of the site that teachers will come to the
most.
TIPS ON IMAGES
 Best to use works only from your permanent collection
 Choose images that are specifically interesting to teachers as related to
standards and curriculum
 Choose images that kids respond well to
 Consider works you have already used and have written information on
 Consider what is readable on a website and computer screen
 Put up images with label information
10




Images at a high resolution (600 dpi) may be needed for multiplicity of
ways teachers use them
Sculpture is difficult to experience if you don’t have a 3D view
 Photography is expensive for 3D
 Teachers need Flash to view and this will reduce use by teachers
even if Flash is available free as a download
 Whitney Museum of American Art suggests no sculpture
Consider black and white for teachers that don’t have access to
color printers; for example, black and white photography or
plan on use of color images that teachers print in grayscale.
Teachers like copyright-free images (note: issues related to artists rights)
More information about how teachers use images.
In a Minnesota study that looked at the use of digital images from history museum collections,
these factors were important in teachers using digital images:
 Teachers often still use an overhead projector and black-and-white transparencies
for their presentations.
 Few teachers have access to an LCD data projector in their schools.
 Most teachers did not have the materials or equipment to print-out and create color
transparencies.
 Image size was particularly important to teachers using transparencies since they
require a relatively large printable image to make a usable transparency.
Participants using overhead projectors felt that images should be as close to 8.5x11
inches as possible. 640x480 pixels. 2
SECOND: “Authentic” information about the images/art
 Teachers want information that places a work of art in a contextual
framework: a social, political, or cultural context related to subject areas
and topics in school curriculum. Teachers expect information such as the
background of artists, links to related websites, and a list of available
resources.
 Teachers view museum websites as authoritative sources, different from
Google image search or Wikipedia. This is one advantage museum web
resources have over commercial and other kinds of sources. Make use of
it!
 One approach to authentic and authoritative information is to include the
voices of experts of various kinds, such as artists and cultural elders. This
does not mean that TWR should take a heavy handed didactic approach.
Teachers what to know they have come to a place they can trust, but they
also want room for student opinions and their own.
TIPS ON INFORMATION
 Always include the basics (name, date, country, etc.) with an image.
 The Whitney has a useful basic approach to information for each image.
They include 3 sections: About the Art, Artist Biography, Context.
 Teachers feel more comfortable using images as primary sources when
this information is available.
11







Make basic information available in a primary layer, right after the image
itself.
Additional information may be useful for specific audiences (related to
approaches for math, language arts, social studies, etc.). This information
can come in a secondary layer.
Consider, with some cautions, having information in varied forms, like
video interviews with artists and other non-art history experts. While this
information can be powerful it can also be difficult for some teachers to
access with their students. This may be a useful long-range plan given that
school computers and teachers need to catch up with this technology.
Highlight words as vocabulary that you can click on for definitions from
the Glossary.
Remember how few teachers teach art history as a chronology of styles.
The language and content of art history may be largely inaccessible for
any but a few AP teachers and students.
Present all information in small chunks. No long texts. Limit or eliminate
the need to scroll to see all the text.
Well vetted links are useful and need to be annotated and regularly
reviewed for the accuracy of their URLs.
THIRD: Classroom lesson ideas
Teachers will use access to suggested classroom activities and well-designed
lesson ideas linked to suggested age ranges/grade levels. Teachers often want to
be assured that they can link suggested activities to local standards, but there are
different views on this (see below).
TIPS ON LESSON IDEAS
 Full lesson plans, or more open-ended classroom ideas?
Outlines, teaching ideas, suggestions, and Internet links are all more
valuable than a one-size-fits-all lesson. Teachers seldom use lesson plans
or other online activities as museums design them. Teachers almost
always break these materials apart and select pieces that will serve their
individual classroom goals. For some lesson ideas, however, it will be
useful to include an overview, step-by-step directions (to be used only by
teachers, not as a handout), some handouts, and suggested ways to teach
using specific images. For other lesson ideas, a more limited approach
might be taken. What counts here is providing enough information to
make ideas useful to teachers.
 If museums provide lessons online, teachers want them to:
 Be available for free
 Relate to artists, concepts, or big ideas
 Not be coloring or busywork activities
 Be organized by grade levels, or a similar system such as age brackets
or beginner, intermediate, advanced
 Everybody has a different opinion on how best to incorporate teachers in
developing lesson ideas
 some museum educators feel they have teaching experience with
12


the art works and write lesson ideas themselves
 some have teacher committees to advise
 some have teachers advise and write lessons
 some have stopped having teachers write lessons because of the
difficulty in going back and standardizing everything (a lot of
editing involved)
 BASE LINE: have teacher readers for feedback (consider paying
for this since it will be above and beyond the call of duty and may
help in getting deadlines met)
Use a limited number of images in a lesson idea, between 1 and 5.
What about connecting to educational standards?
Current practice among art museums is based on mixed assumptions and
not much user data.
 Many teachers say standards are important to them, but on
deeper inquiry the picture is more complex. Most teachers say
they can find a way to connect almost any subject to standards.
They often see this as part of their job.
 There are different standards for each state. And TWR users
are all over the country.
 Some TWR include state and national standards for all lessons
and others only provide a web link to those standards.
 Standards seem not to be the way teachers search a site for
good things to use.
 What teachers do find will be modified to fit their personal
needs in addressing standards.
 BASELINE: At minimum, provide links to local (Colorado)
and national standards. The key decision here may be
influenced by whether you see your TWR as local or national
resources. One could provide links to standards for all states,
for example.
FOURTH: Useful forms of interactivity
Lots of “bells and whistles” are not needed and can get in the way of usefulness
for teachers. All of the people we consulted said to use bells and whistles only
when it directly served the needs of teachers and had been proven to be well-used.
If money is no object, then the degree to which teachers use an interactive may be
less important than providing as many choices as possible. Even then, too many
choices can deter teachers who most often are looking for something practical to
use.
TIPS ON USEFUL INTERACTIVE FEATURES
 One kind of useful interactive feature is the ability for a teacher to store
images and information—a place to store their “favorites” or “personal
set.” This allows quick access the next time they visit the website. For an
extremely useful list of specific characteristics for a personal tool set see
the ARTstor report, which suggests, among other things, the ability to save
details and have a secure log-in.
13


Another useful interactive feature is facilitating the teacher’s ability to
create (or simply customize) practical classroom tools such as PowerPoint
presentations and downloadable worksheets for students. Teachers value
PowerPoint presentations since they can easily be reused, modified, and
shared, allowing them to build on the work of colleagues and to have
something consistently available to use with students. For extremely
useful recommendations for presentations and publishing see the ARTstor
report.
Definitely use a zoom feature to help in seeing details.
3. Provide what teachers want in WAYS that make it accessible to teachers.
Provide a structure that can help teachers to use their time efficiently by guiding them
directly to the content, and providing ways to sort, print, and adapt the materials for
classroom teaching. What teachers want:
 is all over the map
 some want materials they can grab and use, others want access to art and
information
 very rarely teachers take an “off-the-shelf” packet and use it as intended
 teachers will want to use content in a variety of ways
-distribution to students
-interacting with the web to make their own stuff
When thinking of how teachers use the web, it is also useful to consider why they may
use museum websites:
-To find low-cost or free materials
-To connect the classroom to the larger world
-To help manage time more efficiently
-To motivate students
-To help communicate and share experiences and ideas with other teachers
-To help bring the school and the community closer together
-To help spread good news about what is happening in their classrooms
-To “rejuvenate” teachers’ professional lives
TIPS FOR WAYS TO MAKE TWV USEFUL TO TEACHERS
Make it obvious, intuitive and clear.
Many museum resources are not used simply because teachers cannot find them
on the museum’s site or on the web in general. Teachers value being able to locate
online resources with the help of simple navigation and consistent titles and
location of links. It is difficult to find educational information embedded in tabs
with other names: “About Us,” “Asian Odyssey.” Links must contain familiar
tags including “Education,” “Teachers,” or “Schools.”
Make it sortable for teacher use: Provide the facility to sort the images in
multiple ways so that groups of images can be defined not only by art categories,
but also by themes and topics within the scope of school curriculum. Use sorting
criteria recognized by teachers (region, grade, subject) as opposed to art historical
terms. In general these are the main browsing tools: culture/nationality, time
period (including a timeline), genre, medium, and random (such as contrast and
14
compare). A secondary, but important, browsing direction is themes, that is,
predetermined themes related to what is taught in school or strengths of the art
collection.
A useful example:
The Whitney Museum of American Art allows teachers to sort by these predetermined
categories:
-Era/Event – big markers of American history
-Decade – time period
-Theme – mostly social studies type themes
-Medium – materials
-Art-related themes

In addition to this mega-sorting or directed browsing, presented as menu
options, the site should be searchable by terms that are more general than
those used in museum collection management systems. Terms for search
include things such as African, Painting, Impressionism.
 Timelines and world maps illustrated with art works on the site also help
teachers in sorting according to their needs.
 This is a list of information the ARTstor report found useful to K-12 users:
1. Most important: object title, culture/nationality, creation date, artist
name, artist life dates, keywords, medium
2. Second most important: gender, style/genre, subject description,
narrative text
Make it printable:
Most people prefer not to read on a computer screen and it is important to have
downloadable materials that teachers can print and use away from a computer.
Provide flexible tools such as downloadable templates (e.g. MSWord,
Hyperstudio, PowerPoint) for doing classroom projects. Everything should be
downloadable but images are one of the most important downloads for teachers.
PRINTING TIPS
 Offer different print options at bottom of all pages
-download pdf – will print on an 8 ½ x 11 page
-offer low resolution images as a choice
-can copy images into PowerPoint
-only 72 dpi may work for viewing online but bigger images
may be needed for various printing and presentation options—
then again images can be too big to be easily used
 Have PowerPoints available in pdf format that teachers can use – not
all people have PowerPoint on their computer, but everything can be
done with a pdf (can use on screen and as printout)
 Consider having a system of registered users who can print high
resolution images (free to join)
 Make sure you have basic identifier information printed with an image
– label info, your museum as source, copyright
 When printing information, consider the option to bring up a box to
help teachers select what information they would like (about the art,
artist bio, etc.) -- much easier and more economical printing method
15
Make it versatile and flexible for varied use
 Teachers prefer to “cherry pick” and use images collected from various
sources that they can adapt to their specific classroom needs. For this
purpose, teachers may use applications that they are familiar with, such as
PowerPoint or iPhoto, where they and their students can add and organize
their own collections of images.
 Ensure that the site and its features can be accessible and functional on
different interfaces/browsers and computers. A Houston study discovered
that in the past, the K-12 classroom was one of the strongholds of the
Macintosh computer, but this dynamic has changed as the vast majority of
teachers reported using PC computers or a combination of PC and Apple
computers in the classroom. A 2007 Colorado survey suggests that
Colorado teachers use PCs much more that Macs.
 Consider teacher diversity in skills and confidence in working with
technology when developing on-line resources, by designing a range of
tools and interfaces for accessing electronic materials. Consider the ages
of teachers; most may not have grown up with computers. The so-called
“net-generation” is often described as the children of the baby boomers or
people born in the late 70’s and 80’s. In 2007 these people are still young
in the teaching workforce, somewhere in their 20’s and 30’s. This is the
first generation to be fully literate in use of the internet. It will take some
time for the majority of teachers to reach this point.
The way it looks counts.
As with many people, the first reaction to whether teachers like or dislike a
website may be how it looks. The design (including color and movement), layout,
and presentation often determines whether teachers will explore further.
 The use of large print and images enhances a website’s presentation and
usability.
 Websites may be seen as more effective when the homepage allows the
user to view all of the contents without having to scroll down the page.
 Teachers often like simple and clean designs, as websites with too much
information presented on a page were too distracting.
C. BEST PRACTICES FOR CREATING, MAINTAINING AND GROWING
TWR
1. Use a content management system that is as easy to use for adding and
revising content as Microsoft Word.
Because TWR grow and change as museum collections and school curriculum
evolve, and as the managers of TWR get better at providing useful resources, staff
will never stop adding and revising TWR. It is critical to have a back-end interface
that is completely reliable and user-friendly for museum staff (usually museum
educators) to continue adding information after the site goes on-line.
TIPS ON CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
16








If you have a good content management system it is very easy for education staff,
contract/temporary staff, and even interns to use.
Make it easy to load information (text and images) into fields and upload.
Have specific image parameters and use those when submitting work-orders to
photo departments.
Some systems look like Microsoft Word – you can just click on an icon to change
the font, etc. and you don’t have to do any coding.
Brainstorm ahead of time all of the things you might want to change, and include
those in your content management system. For example, anticipate the growth of
an online gallery by including maps of parts of the world from which new works
may come.
DO NOT want to be doing any coding—Look for a content management system
that allows you to make changes without having to code.
Database everything—this gives you the ability to change information.
o makes it much easier to enter information and change things
o can make information appear in more than one place
Perhaps buy an off-the-shelf content management system and have a webdeveloper tweak it to fit the needs of your website.
2. Integrate teacher feedback at key points in the development process and for
ongoing revision and growth.
All museums that have had success with their TWR consult with and test their online
resources with their intended target audience. This is an iterative process. Critical
points can be identified at which teacher testing is most useful, such as before
introducing TWR to the public, when adding new resources, or when introducing any
interactive feature.
TIPS FOR TEACHER FEEDBACK
 Use teachers as consultants.
 Pay teachers a stipend for work outside of their standard teaching duties.
 Bring objects related to themes/topics to teachers and ask what they think about
those objects as a teaching tool.
 Work with teachers during the developmental process.
 Use the “visitors panel” model for listening to teachers (similar to focus groups).
 Be careful about who you ask to consult—using AP teachers can result in ideas
that are too advanced for many other teaching situations.
 Testing on flat pages (as opposed to getting the entire site up and running) is very
useful—you get a lot of info without spending a lot of money.
3. Write it for the web AND for teachers.
Some museums recommend writing for the web, while others recommend writing for
teachers. It seems best to do both. Using an editor familiar with writing for both will
also be useful and can save time.
WRITING FOR THE WEB
The writing style of online content should reflect the medium. Creating effective
website content needs an approach combining journalism with advertising copy
writing.
17

Use a lot of layers, “mind-mapping,” not pages and pages of information,
which can often be overwhelming.
 Everything should be no more than three “clicks” away.
 Keep text on each page to a minimum— include images, not just lists to
choose from.
WRITING FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS
 Writing for teacher means using the language and terminology of their work
environment.
 The Whitney wrote their TWR for teachers and teen readers.
 For selected components designed to be accessed by younger students, one
approach is to aim for 8-11 year olds (mid-range readers).
4. How fresh do TWR need to be?
For freshness for repeat users have a “What’s New” section with links to new images,
updated materials, new lesson plans, and ongoing live programs such as teacher
workshops. Don’t forget, however, that freshness may be less important to teacher
users than other web users. Teachers often teach the same subjects year after year.
They collect resources over time and use them repeatedly with new students.
 Museums think of constantly changing exhibitions and upgrading services
to meet the needs of repeat visitors and to tell the story of the museum
over time. However, teachers use the same resources over and over as new
students who have never experienced their lessons enter their classrooms
each semester or year.
5. Special issues that may need additional research
1. accessibility issues – i.e. for visually impaired
2. languages
D. BEST PRACTICES FOR GETTING TEACHERS TO USE THE WEB
RESOURCES?
All of the studies that we found of web use, Internet access, and technology in schools
suggest that:
A. Fast web access is on the increase in schools. Almost all teachers have good
access and some students have access through or at their schools. Currently there
is far less access for students than for teachers but this is also growing. In fall
2005, nearly 100% of public schools in the United States had access to the
Internet, compared with 35% in 1994. Public schools have made consistent
progress in expanding Internet access into instructional rooms.
In a study done in 2006:
 99% of Colorado schools had Internet access
 86% of computers in Colorado schools had high-speed Internet access
 Colorado ranked 44th of 50 states in “Access to Technology”
18
Additional useful information about access to computers and the web in U.S. schools
in 2005:
 The ratio of students to instructional computers with Internet access in 2005 was
3.8 to 1, a decrease from 12.1 to 1 in 1998 when it was first measured.
 In 2005, 19% of public schools provided hand-held computers to students or
teachers for instructional purposes, an increase from 10% in 2003. Public schools
were more likely to provide hand-held computers to teachers than to students.
 In 2005, 10% of public schools lent laptop computers to students.
 In 2005, nearly 100% of public schools with Internet access used various
technologies or procedures to control student access to inappropriate material on
the Internet.
 In 2005, nationwide, 83% of public schools with Internet access indicated that
their school or district had offered professional development to teachers in their
school on how to integrate the use of the Internet into the curriculum in the 12
months prior to the fall survey.
 89% of public schools indicated that they used the Internet to provide data to
inform instructional planning at the school level. 87% of public schools reported
using the Internet to provide assessment results and data for teachers to use to
individualize instruction.
B. Teachers use the web primarily as a source for their own teaching and secondarily
as a place to send students. Teachers use the web to do both background research
and to create and further develop lesson plans on an equal basis.
C. There is still a great deal of variation in individual teacher comfort levels with use
of images, Internet, and technology in general. Teachers continue to become more
skilled at using computers, with almost two-thirds (63%) characterizing their
computer and classroom technology skills as somewhat advanced and advanced
[2006].
D. Take into consideration Internet use and safety and privacy issues.
Some schools must obtain parental or guardian permission for students to use the
Internet. For many art collections, internet safety will not be an issue, but
museums must recognize that school communities take special consideration for
community standards. The two acts below may impact the way we set up TWR.
 CIPA – Under the Children’s Internet Protection Act, libraries and schools
must install filters on their computers that filter all material that is
“obscene, child pornography,” or “harmful to minors” in order to continue
to receive federal funding. CIPA uses the definitions of “obscene, child
pornography,” and “harmful to minors” that have been established by the
United States Supreme Court. For instance, something is considered
obscene if, taken as a whole, the work lacks serious literary, artistic,
political, or scientific value. Libraries and schools may turn off the filters
at the request of a non-minor (anyone 17 or older, as defined by CIPA).
 COPPA – The 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
requires commercial online content providers, who have knowledge that
19


Among schools using technologies or procedures to prevent student access to
inappropriate material on the Internet in 2002, 96% used blocking or filtering
software. 91% of schools reported that teachers or other staff members monitored
student Internet access, 82% had a written contract that parents have to sign, 77%
had a contract that students have to sign, 52% used monitoring software, 41% had
honor codes, and 32% allowed access only to their intranet.
On the Whitney site you can choose between different portions of the
site and teachers can choose where to send kids. The teacher portion of site
contains some images that are not on kids or teens portion. There is also a
disclaimer on their site—“you may want to look through before sending kids
there.”
E. Building and expanding use of TWR is a long term endeavor and needs to include
teacher training and marketing on the part of the originating institutions.
Considerable funds and resources have been used to create TWR. Robust sources are
available online, yet some museums report lower usage than expected. It is not
enough to have robust web resources. Some degree of teacher training is a critical
component to increase use.
Teacher training to increase use of TWR:
Teachers usually have difficulty finding time to learn about new resources
(especially online resources) and to become more experienced in using Internet
technology and research tools.
 Finding time for learning about resources is one of the greatest obstacles
in adopting new resources.
 Teachers often favored workshops as a way to effectively learn to use new
resources.
 Many teachers want to interact with trainers while they are learning about
new resources in a computer lab setting, where access to on-the-spot
technical support could be provided.
Museums should consider ongoing teacher training a part of growing the use of
TWR:
 Undertake training for basic technology and internet skills in combination
with introduction to your particular TWR.
 Incorporate training needed into all ongoing teacher training programs.
 Explore partners (such as other museums) who might do the same.
 Consider a dedicated training program conducted by teachers for teachers.
 Use laptops/notebooks with teachers to train them to use the site [use a
“try it” rather than a “tell it’ training model].
 Once they are trained, you can have a very loyal and committed group of
users
20
Example of a pyramid approach to teacher training
In Minnesota they developed a statewide TWR for the collections of multiple museums. They
then wanted to prepare teachers statewide to use these resources. To cover such a large area
required that a trainer travel the state providing workshops for teachers in their communities.
However, this strategy had a “here and gone” impact without lasting support, and one
trainer could reach only a small number of teachers. The alternative approach of a train-thetrainer model was conceived, using a pyramid system to reach as many teachers as possible
throughout Minnesota. The train-the-trainer model is based on one lead trainer developing a
highly skilled core group of teachers from around the state, who would in turn conduct
workshops in their regions. The job description required the lead trainer to design and
deliver a training program that would instruct and support 24 teachers from all parts of the
state in conducting workshops for their colleagues in their home regions. The Lead Trainer
would be responsible for developing both print and electronic training materials and
classroom assessment models. The Lead trainer and the 24 teachers were provided with
stipends to ensure delivery and success of training sessions. They started by training 20
master teachers. 1400 teachers were trained after 2 years by using this pyramid method. 3
Marketing to teachers to increase use of TWR
Some smart things to do to market a new resource might include:
 getting other sites to provide a link to your site
 using teacher workshops to inform teachers about the resources
 sending out a poster/postcard or other written announcement
 working with school systems to share information via email
 developing your own teacher email list for an email newsletter
LOOKING AT CURRENT ART EDUCATION PRACTICES AS THEY
RELATE TO ART COLLECTION TWR
Much of the information below is from a study done in 2003, but still applies to the
present. Who teaches art in public schools? Some social studies, language arts, and other
teachers use art-making or art-appreciation as part of their studies, but most art education
is taught by specialists in this area.
Elementary Art Specialists
 In elementary schools, classroom generalists are in charge of the day-to-day
curriculum in most subject areas. Specialists in art, media, music, and physical
education typically see all the students in a school, most often in separate
classrooms, allowing the classroom generalists “prep-time.”
 The National Center for Education Statistics reported that in 2000, 87% of all
public elementary schools in the U.S. offered instruction in the visual arts. Of
those schools, 55% employed full-time specialists to teach art.
Secondary Art Specialists
 Art specialists in middle and secondary schools operate as subject matter
experts just as all of their colleagues are specialists at this level. Many middle
schools require one unit of art instruction as part of the student’s middle
school education, while at the high school level art is more often considered
an elective.
 94% of U.S. public high schools employ one or more full-time visual arts
specialists according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
21
Different from the art classroom in K-12 schools of 20 years ago, today’s art education
standards reflect the influence of Discipline Based Art Education, a reform movement in
the field of art education that had significant support from the Getty Education Institute
for the Arts. Discipline Based Art Education promoted the teaching of art as an academic
subject through focus on four core art disciplines—aesthetics, art history, art production,
and art criticism. Students in a discipline-based art classroom, for example, might study
the history of self-portraits, read an art critic’s analysis of self-portraiture and discuss the
value of self-portraiture as an art form while they were creating their own self-portraits.
Although Discipline Based Art Education as a reform movement has passed, its impact
on the field of art education is widespread. As a result, analyzing works of art, developing
an informed acquaintance with exemplary works of art and applying an understanding of
the visual arts to other arts disciplines are all goals that can be found in the National
Standards for Arts Education.
The National Arts Education Standards represent education goals for K-12 students
meant to be adopted and implemented at the state level. More than guidelines, the visual
art standards present content standards specifying what students should know and be able
to do in the visual arts and achievement standards specifying the levels of achievement
students are expected to attain at the completion of grades 4, 8 and 12. Essentially, the
visual art standards ask that students know and be able to do the following by the time
they have completed secondary school:
 Students should be able to communicate at a basic level in the visual arts.
This includes knowledge and skills in the use of the basic vocabularies,
materials, tools, techniques, and intellectual methods.
 Students should be able to communicate proficiently in the visual arts,
including the ability to define and solve artistic problems with insight,
reason, and technical proficiency.
 Students should be able to develop and present basic analyses of works of
art from structural, historical, and cultural perspectives, and from
combinations of those perspectives. This includes the ability to understand
and evaluate works of art.
 Students should have an informed acquaintance with exemplary works of
art from a variety of cultures and historical periods, and a basic
understanding of historical development across visual art as a whole and
within cultures.
 Students should be able to relate various types of arts knowledge and skills
within and across the arts disciplines. This includes mixing and matching
competencies and understandings in art-making, history and culture, and
analysis in any arts-related project.
22
LOOKING AT INDIVIDUAL ART COLLECTIONS THROUGH THE EYES
OF TEACHERS
Because each collection content area (culture, time period, art form) may call for its
own approach to make it useful for teachers, we recommend specific investigation
with teachers for major collection areas. A useful approach may be to conduct focus
groups with teachers in which sample websites are examined, as was the case with the
study cited below.
CASE: AMERICAN INDIAN COLLECTIONS
As an example, the DAM examined teacher use of American Indian web resources
and came to the following conclusions:
Elementary and secondary teachers had somewhat different needs:
Elementary Educators:
 Elementary educators said they tend to examine American Indians historically
and regionally/geographically in their classrooms.
 Elementary teachers identified the lack of appropriate resources as a barrier to
studying American Indians. In particular, suitable books are especially
difficult to come by. Other teachers said lack of knowledge on their part,
faced with an overwhelming amount of materials is a challenge in selecting
effective resources.
Secondary Educators:
 Secondary educators tend to study American Indians historically and
regionally in their classrooms and examine issues of stereotypes, colonization,
marginalization, cultural diffusion, and migration. Investigative research was
named most often as the method by which secondary students study American
Indians. Most said it is important to address cultural stereotypes and to instill
tolerance and cultural sensitivity in their students.
 Secondary teachers in both groups said teaching a predominantly homogenous
student body to respect and be sensitive to cultural diversity is challenging.
Both groups indicated that standards are broad enough that a teacher can select what
she/he wants to teach about American Indians and make it fit with standards. They both
look at American Indians historically and regionally. This suggests that it would be
appropriate to take a similar path vis-à-vis standards and providing the opportunity to sort
American Indian art works by region and historical periods. But, secondary teachers have
a particular challenge in dealing with cultural stereotypes. This may suggest a different
set or selection of resources for teachers in elementary and secondary schools. In looking
at these issues, DAM museum education staff tentatively decided that it may emphasize
offering information on art works in the voice of cultural elders and artists who are
American Indian. Knowing that an American Indian person is telling the story of a work
of art helps secondary teachers in avoiding cultural stereotypes. Some teachers suggested
that they knew of other teachers who chose not to study American Indian topics because
of their uncertainty about inappropriate generalizations.
23
WHAT ABOUT MAKING TWR USEFUL TO STUDENTS?
This question can usefully be thought of from two perspectives. First, consider students
acting on instructions from a teacher and, second, students using the web on their own.
For students using TWR in the classroom or while doing assignments for school, there
may be some usefulness in considering students as users when designing TWR. The
caveat here is that students and teachers have substantively different desires when
entering a web site. While these needs may not be totally in conflict, addressing both sets
of users will require more complex and extensive planning. One approach is to write the
web site for teachers and teen readers since that is the student age group most likely to
use the site for research.
Suggestions for making TWR useful to students doing school assignments:
 Museum Web sites need to be student-friendly. A good student-friendly site
has to be simply stated with clear instructions, and it must take the student
directly to where he wants to look. It should also have an interactive element.
If there is an activity for the student to use, the instructions must be almost
self-explanatory or have only minimal directions and the student must be able
to successfully use the game.
 In studies, students often reported that the internet was the first resource they
accessed for school assignments
 For students, the design, layout, and presentation were major factors in
deciding whether to go further on a site or not.
For students using the web on their own, an entirely new set of challenges arise. Students
use the internet mostly for games; entertainment; shopping; email and hotmail; chatting;
and downloading music, in addition to homework assignments. The internet serves a
social purpose for many of the participants by engaging them in two-way
communication.
Competing with the entire universe of web resources available for students, especially
teens, means entering a huge world of rapidly changing options—one an art collection
may have trouble keeping pace with. Competing to get teens to use a website on their
own will be increasingly worthwhile and increasingly competitive. In 2006, the
MacArthur Foundation announced a 5 year plan to understand the impact of digital media
on youth and how they learn. Once completed, this study will have much to offer
museums who are designing web materials for young people. Here are a few comments
from their website for Building the Field of Digital Media and Learning:
In 2005 more than one-half of all teens had created media content, and roughly
one third of teens who use the Internet had shared content they produced. In many
cases, these teens are actively involved in what we are calling participatory
cultures. A participatory culture is a culture with relatively low barriers to artistic
expression and civic engagement, strong support for creating and sharing one’s
creations, and some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the
most experienced is passed along to novices. A participatory culture is also one in
which members believe their contributions matter, and feel some degree of social
24
connection with one another (at the least they care what other people think about
what they have created). Forms of participatory culture include:
Affiliations — memberships, formal and informal, in online
communities centered around various forms of media, such as
Friendster, Facebook, message boards, metagaming, game clans, or
MySpace).
Expressions — producing new creative forms, such as digital
sampling, skinning and modding, fan videomaking, fan fiction
writing, zines, mash-ups).
Collaborative Problem-solving — working together in teams,
formal and informal, to complete tasks and develop new
knowledge (such as through Wikipedia, alternative reality gaming,
spoiling).
Circulations — Shaping the flow of media (such as podcasting,
blogging). 4
The potential of a participatory culture for learning seems extraordinarily high. When the
time is right, and the funds available, targeting youth users in their leisure time may open
an amazing array of opportunities for museums.
WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF ART MUSEUMS AND TWR?
Art museums have long offered teacher workshops, posters for classroom use, and
supplementary teacher lesson materials in hard copy.
In a 2005 survey of online resources:
 Art museums were found to utilize a variety of online educational strategies as
evidenced by the combinations of resources they offered. The authors sorted the
data by total number of educational resources offered by each site to demonstrate
how online art museums were approaching the Web:
 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, and
Philadelphia Museum of Art were classified as “innovator” art museums
because they commit to core resources, offer a variety of activities to appeal to
multiple learner types, allow specific searches via databases, and employ
innovative technologies like conversation tools or guided tours.
 16 museums in the sample, including the National Museum of African Art and
the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Seattle Art Museum, and Chrysler Museum of
Art were classified as “early adopters.” They offer some core resources and
some variety, but not all offer online research databases and only a few
employ innovative online technology.
 In general, “early majority” and “late majority” museums commit to the
easiest of online technologies, and show irregular use of databases and
innovative technology. Museums like the Schneider Museum of Art, Tacoma
Art Museum, and Erie Art Museum fit these criteria. Early and late majorities
combined made up 61% of the sample.
25

“Laggards” commit to the easiest technologies online—such as learning
links—while “non-adopters” do not commit online at all. These groups made
up 7% and 13% of the sample, respectively. 5
1
Adsit, M. and D. Helal, J. Royal, and C. Barger. Learning@Whitney: Developing a Useful Teaching Tool.
Whitney Museum of American Art and Interactive Knowledge, Inc., USA. p.2
2
Sayre, S. and K. Wetterlund. Making History: The Minnesota Digital Library and the K–12 Teaching and
Learning Community. Sandbox Studios, Inc.: October 14, 2005.
3
Sayre, S. and K. Wetterlund. Pyramid Power: A Train-the-Trainer Model to Increase Teacher Usage of
the ArtsConnectEd On-line Resource. Paper: Museums and the Web 2002. p.4
4
Jenkins, H., K. Clinton, R. Purushotma, A. Robison, and M. Weigel. Confronting the Challenges of
Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century. Building the Field of Digitl Media and
Learning. Chicago, IL: The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. p. 3
5
Varisco, R. and W. M. Cates. (July 2005). Survey of Web-based educational resources in selected U.S. art
museums. First Monday. 10(7).
URL: http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_7/varisco/index.html.
26