An evaluation for online educational activities in museums during the covid-19 pandemic period: Istanbul and New York

Abstract

In these days, where all work is interrupted in the field of education and art, as in all areas of life due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has affected the world, it is seen that museums, which are non-school learning environments and non-formal education institutions, have also made some regulations. With these regulations, museums had to pause or reduce activities, accept a limited number of visitors or close their doors to visitors. However, museums trying to adapt to both the pandemic conditions and the digital world required by the age have quickly started to conduct online educational activities for their visitors, remotely. This study focuses on museums' online educational activities for children during the pandemic period. In the research, the current situation was tried to be revealed by making a comparison of the art museums with online educational activities for children in New York and Istanbul. The research was conducted through the case study design, one of the qualitative research methods. Six art museums located in New York and Istanbul, which are considered to be art centers, constitute the scope of the research. Research data were collected by document analysis method. In the research, the information accessed from the institutional web pages of the museums was analyzed descriptively. It has been concluded that the museums of New York offer a wide range of educational activities for children and the museums of Istanbul have very high quality educational activities, but the number of educational activities for children and families, as well as online files and video and audio recordings, should be increased. In addition, although online education activities do not replace the education carried out by visiting museums physically, it is believed to create an education model that supports face-to-face education in museums after the pandemic.