What are the pros and cons
of an educator leading a project team
to develop an interactive exhibit?
Aurélie Henry
Education Technology Projects Coordinator
National Postal Museum

The National Postal Museum?
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC
Presents the history of the nation’s mail
service and the largest collection of
stamps in the world
About 40 full-time staff
Visitation in 2008:
On-site: 300,000
Online: 2, 500, 000
(2 websites)

NPM Organizational Chart

Director’s suite
Curatorial & Collection & External
Education Exhibits
research Preservation Affairs
Main website Arago
postalmuseum.si.edu Arago.si.edu

Director’s suite
Curatorial & Collection & External
Education Exhibits
Research Preservation Affairs
Main Internet Affairs Arago
website March 2009 Arago.si.edu
postalmuseum.si.edu

Cross departmental collaboration
• Museum-wide project teams for major
projects
– Exhibit creation
– Technology based projects
• Museum wide committees
– Exhibit committee
– Web strategy meetings

Postal Museum organizational
strengths and challenges
• IT handled outside of museum
– Challenge: Projects don’t get direct input and
support
• Museum-wide project teams:
– Strength: Collaboration
– Challenge: How can our processes mature?
• Top down structure:
– Strength: Strong project support from the director
– Challenge: Need a long term strategy

Educator and project manager
• Educator
• User-centric approach
• Generation Y
• Technology enthusiast
but no technical skills

My role as an educator
Assist with public interpretation
•
• School tours
• Highlight tours
• Public Program development
• Education’s representative on exhibit teams
• Website product development / Web material
review

My experience as an educator
and project manager

The Ford Education Center’s goals
• Five interactive touch
screens
• Fun and engaging
• Merging museum’s themes
• Link on-site & on-line
experiences

Project management by an educator
• Target audience: families
• Based on observed visitor
needs
• Focus on usability and
ergonomic design
• Spiral project planning

Project management by an educator
Evaluate Design
Test Build
• Spiral project planning

All Aboard to Sort the Mail!

All Aboard to Sort the Mail!

What are the pros and cons
of an educator leading a project team
to develop an interactive exhibit?
• Pros:
– Focus on users and their learning
– Emphasize evaluation
• Cons:
– No in-depth understanding of IT
• Recommendations:
– Gather a reliable team of experts
– Make the project management the priority