Evaluation of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ Evans Distance Learning Program
Client: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts | Location: Richmond, VA | Funding: Institute for Museum and Library Services
We measured the impact of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ real-time distance learning art museum tour for high school students, an experience designed to help students interpret works of art and see how art relates to their lives.
OVERVIEW
We conducted impact planning, formative evaluation, and summative evaluation of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ Evans Distance Learning Program, an initiative inspired by the museum’s 2020 Strategic Plan that seeks to connect classrooms with museum educators in the museum’s galleries in real-time.
As the first distance learning program at the museum that would be broadcast from the museum’s galleries, a holistic evaluation was critical to focus the programs’ goals, hone its execution, and ultimately measure its impact.
APPROACH
We designed a three-phased evaluation:
Developing an Impact Framework that articulated intended outcomes for key audiences,
Formative evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of program operations and progress toward achieving intended outcomes, and
Summative evaluation to understand the extent to which the program ultimately achieved the intended outcomes as articulated in the Impact Framework.
CLIENT TAKEAWAYS
Summative evaluation indicated that the program successfully supported students in broadening their perspectives and connecting what they experienced in the program to what they are learning in the classroom—two intended outcomes of the program. The strategic connection of the program with 10th grade social studies was one contributing factor to success with these outcomes—the program exposes students to artworks from cultures across the world that they are learning about in school.
However, observation data also suggested in the future the museum could work on setting teacher expectations before programs. For example, asking teachers to allow for long pauses while students are thinking will allow museum educators to more effectively implement inquiry-based teaching strategies and support student ownership of their learning, ultimately strengthening overall outcome achievement.
