University of Wisconsin-Madison

The University of Wisconsin-Madison will address a key challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic by developing tools and resources to help museum and library professionals design, implement, curate, and assess online learning resources. The project will address the lack of consensus on how best to select resources, facilitate activities, and reach disadvantaged families, especially those with limited or intermittent internet. The project team will survey and interview practitioners and families to understand digital divides and their impact on children's participation in online learning, how barriers are understood by educators, and how those barriers are being addressed. The project will analyze existing online learning resources offered by museums and libraries and develop templates, rubrics, and practitioner briefs that summarize best practices and lessons learned to help museum and library educators be more responsive to disadvantaged families and extend their educational programming to their whole community.