Alexey Lebedev, Laboratory of Museum Projects, RIC

Содержание :

Aleksei Lebedev
Lev Noll



ADIT IN THE CONTINUOUS EDUCATION SYSTEM

In the information society of the approaching future, theoretical knowledge becomes an essential development resource. The main criteria of social stratification are education and professional ability; the main conflict in the system of economic relations is that between competence and incompetence. Consequently, educational technology has an dramatically new part to play in the modern world: education must be continuous.
In the sphere of education, the principal difference between the industrial and post-industrial societies is that in the latter, traditional staff training and education are separate tasks. The staff training is typical for the industrial stage of social development. Post-industrial society needs professionals of a new kind who are able to create and manage new structures. Traditional methods of staff training, although gradually replaced by education, still remains the most widespread teaching method. This duality arguably reflects the transitional nature of our time.
ADIT makes a special focus on educational projects by launching initiatives in three main dimensions:
· Grounding, which includes university degrees for museology students and teaching museum workers in the framework of advanced training and professional education programmes;
· Educational training at specialised project analysis workshops;
· Mixed types of education (lectures and master-classes given at annual conferences, the activities of ADIT information and consulting services etc.).

Professional training and advanced education programmes
The Academy of Training in Art, Culture and Tourism Workers (ATACTW) has trained museum workers to use computer technologies since 1985. In 1996, ADIT actively joined in computer skills education programmes for museum staff. A group of ADIT members who teach at the Museum Department of ATACTW wrote a new course called Computer Technology in the Museum. The theoretical part of course aims to give listeners a grasp of the basics of computer science as applied to museum work and a clear understanding of the role and place of computers in museum activities. Active forms of training are in use, including the experience of leading national museums. The size and syllabus of the course depend on the method of education and the type of group.
Since 1997, ADIT has acted as a partner in brief workshops and corporate education projects “signed up” to by major museums including the regional Russian Museums.

Teaching museology students
Since 1997, the Chair of Museology at the Russian State University has offered students a 36-hour course on Modern Information Technologies in Museums taught by ADIT experts. In themes and contents, the syllabus of this course is very close to that of advanced training courses for museum workers. Similar courses, supported by ADIT, are taught at the St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Art and at the Museum Centre of Nizhny Novgorod.

Express training in the course of Research & Practice Conferences
One of ADIT educational initiatives is the Express Training at annual conferences. For example, the following master-classes were given at ADIT-2000 in Vladimir:
· Using HYPERMETHOD software for electronic publications on museum topics,
· Master-classes on latest versions of Museum Information Systems,
· A master-class on designing and managing museum Web pages..

Project&Analysis workshops in Russian regions
The most proactive education techniques are used at “Project&Analysis Workshops” (PAW) organised and held by ADIT jointly with its partner, the Future Museum group. The key topics of PAW are Information Management in the Cultural Sphere, Information Technology and the Cultural Heritage. The workshops are targeted at administrators of culture departments and organisations, the staff of museums and libraries. A workshop of this kind is aimed primarily at generating ideas and making them into projects.
Participants of a PAW are not divided into trainers and students. Every workshop has participants, experts, co-ordinators and a facilitator who enables communication in the sessions. PAW are collective efforts at which problems are first identified and then ideas are generated and formed into projects. Activities include group work, master-classes, lectures, presentations, expert consultations and plenary sessions. In just fifteen months, over 300 heads of culture departments and museum and library staff came from various Russian regions to be trained at PAW.
A follow-up on the workshops is the education manual on Information Technology and the Cultural Heritage now available at the address http://www.future.museum.ru, the Web page of Future Museum. The partnership will shortly renovate the ADIT Web page, http://www.adit.ru, and eventually integrate the educational sections of the two Web resources.