Teachers' Use of Web Resources Study for the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum
Client: National Air and Space Museum | Location: Washington, DC
We helped the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum understand K-12 educators’ motivations and preferences for accessing online resources and planning field trips ahead of a major website redesign.
OVERVIEW
In 2020, we led audience research for the National Air and Space Museum to ensure the Museum’s redesign of its website for educator resources provides content that supports K-12 teachers and their needs.
Our evaluation came at a pivotal time, as a global pandemic significantly shifted the landscape of K-12 education toward virtual and hybrid (virtual and in-person) learning environments, and educators were increasingly seeking online resources to support their classrooms.
APPROACH
We designed a multi-method evaluation to explore educators’ use of web resources in two key areas:
Planning classroom activities, and
Field trip planning
For each area, we first fielded an online survey of educators, followed by virtual focus groups to delve deeper into key findings and trends surfaced from the survey. We facilitated reflection calls throughout the project to support decision-making in their ongoing website overall, as well as a final reflection workshop with educators and stakeholders across the Museum to share broadly relevant findings from the study.
CLIENT TAKEAWAYS
We found that educators search for online resources often, but are overwhelmed by the volume of resources available and the process of vetting and customizing resources to their needs (e.g., filtering information by age, grade, subject, and standards). They also value online resources that will make it easier to find and plan field trips efficiently.
The Museum incorporated this feedback during the website redesign to ensure it was educator-centered—an important endeavor at any time, but especially given that many educators will likely continue to use a high volume of online resources even after the return to in-person schooling.
