What is the Specialization Course?

The candidates who have completed successfully the MOOC entitled “Essential Skills for Museum Professionals” were able to go through an application procedure so to apply for the Specialization Course and select the Role profile that want to be specialized.
Totally, only 120 candidates were selected to continue with the Specialization Course in the Mu.SA project countries (Greece, Portugal and Italy).
Having been selected to enter its second phase, aiming to further improve digital and transversal competences based on preferable Mu.SA profile, learners are now able to attend a blended course, an online and face to face learning, through the Specialization Course platform.
Successful learners will gain a Certification for the acquired knowledge with Title of the Role Profile, the grade of activities and ECVET credits they achieved!

Which job profiles are provided?

Based on the project’s research findings, 4 roles have been identified as emerging job profile in the Museum sector:

1. Digital Strategy Manager
2. Digital Collections Curator
3. Digital Interactive Experience Developer
4. Online Community Manager

The description for each role:

1. The Digital Strategy Manager has a strategic role in order to help museums to thrive in the digital environment. S/he is in charge of the digital transformation plan in line with the overall museum strategy. S/he is responsible for the museum digital strategy and the financial planning of technological resources at a senior level, supporting the overall museum management. S/he is comfortable with working with both back-end and front-end technologies.
2. The Digital Collections Curator is responsible for implementing the digital strategy, mainly relevant to the collection, storing, archiving, preserving and making accessible the digital collections (either born – digital or digitized). In larger museums this could be a role-profile in itself, while in smaller museums a curator should be up skilled in the area.
3. The Digital Interactive Experience Developer designs, develops and implements innovative and interactive experiences based on audience needs, providing meaningful experiences for all types of audiences. S/he is aware of all the new technological tools and trends in the ICT and implements the appropriate services and software according to the scope and needs of the museum.
4. An Online Cultural Community Manager answers to the needs of both the online and offline communities. S/he creates and manages accessible and collaborative online communities for all types of stakeholders (audiences, colleagues in museums and cultural heritage sector, educational organizations, donors, sponsors, decision makers, etc.).

Which competences are delivered in the Specialization courses?

Through the Mu.SA 4 Specialization Courses , the learner will be specialized in digital and transferable competences according to the role profile selected. In the course a total of 42 competences are provided for Museum Professionals! More analytically:

21 advanced Digital competences from e-CF:

Service Level Management, Product / Service Planning, Application Design, Sustainable Development, Application Development, Testing, Solution Deployment, Documentation Production, User Support, Change Support, Service Delivery, Problem Management, Information Security Strategy Development, ICT Quality Strategy Development, Education and Training Provision, Purchasing, Information and Knowledge Management, Digital Marketing, Risk Management, Process Improvement, Business Change Management.

6 basic digital competences from DigComp:

Copyright and licenses, Programming, Solving technical problems, Protecting personal data and privacy, Identifying digital competences gaps and Managing digital identity.

Apart from the digital competences needed for the digital literacy of professionals in culture and museums, transferable or so-called 21st century competences will be provided:

15 transferable competences:

Mentoring/ coaching skills, Analyze and synthesize information, Negotiation skills, Networking skills, Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, Resilience, Decision making, Management skills, Interpersonal skills, Mediation skills, Influence/ persuasion skills, Active listening skills, Storytelling, Fact-driven, Integrity/ ethical skills.

Structure of the course:

The Specialization Course consists of a Blended Course and Work Based Learning.

Analytically, the Blended Course consists of 24 weeks/or 360hrs in total. It includes Face to Face learning of 6days/or 24hrs, on-line and self-study of 288hrs and assessment of 48hrs.

The online and self-study components of the Blended Course are developed and delivered in a similar way to the Mu.SA MOOC. Depending on the job profile of your selection, in each week there will be a set of different modules/ competences available for you to study.

More specifically, there is available:

Core material: Similar to the one developed in the MOOC, mostly consisting of lectures and additional material of any kind of self-study (presentations, papers, articles, videos, e-books etc.).

Assessment: there will be quizzes like multiple –choice questions and True/ False Questions that assess the learning outcomes of the educative material provided.

Practical Assignments: Practical activities are assigned either to individuals or to a group of learners, illustrating collaborative learning activities, customized and adjusted for each competence provided. The practical assignment will be graded also by the Tutor of your module.

The Work Based Learning will last 10 weeks/or 205hrs in total, which means 200hrs of practical learning in a museum or other cultural organization and 5hrs of assessment.

The Work Based Learning is taking place in museums and cultural organizations almost simultaneously with the Blended Course in Greece, Italy and Portugal.

During the Work Based Learning, the learners will have the opportunity to undertake activities, in accordance to the job profile they selected in the museum or other cultural organization that have agreed to host them. These activities will be designed and decided between the learner, the employer as well as the Tutors and Supervisors of the Mu.SA project, who will be ready to assist the learner in this “full of experiences” path!

To have access to the Essential Skills for Museum Professionals (MOOC) click below

Essential Skills for Museum Professionals (MOOC)

Creators:

This course was developed by:

Hellenic Open University, Greece DAISSy Research Group
Melting Pro Learning (MeP), Italy
ICOM, Portugal
Link Campus University, Italy
Symbola – Foundation for Italian Qualities, Italy
University of Porto (U.PORTO), Portugal
Institute of Vocational Training AKMI (AKMI), Greece
Istituto Beni Culturali, Italy
ICOM, Greece
Culture Action Europe (CAE), Belgium
Mapa das Ideias (MAPAS), Portugal

in the framework of the European Erasmus Plus project "Mu.SA: Museum Sector Alliance"