By Chelsea Kelly, Manager of Digital Learning,  Milwaukee Art Museum

Have you ever gotten home from a conference abuzz with excitement about all the new ideas, people, and programs you’ve learned about and discussed? If so (after you finally recover from all that intense thinking), I’m betting you then thought: “Wow, it’d be great if I didn’t have to wait a full year to get a taste of that again.” Well, that’s exactly why we began a Peer-to-Peer Initiative for the National Art Education Association’s Museum Education Division — to use technology to connect with colleagues and share our ideas and programs in an informal way, outside of conferences.

We’re pleased to announce a pilot series of Google+ Hangouts On Air in the next month. These Hangouts will highlight current work in our field in the conference-like spirit of sharing, discussion, and best practices. (Minus the week-long period of exhaustion and hundreds of emails in your inbox to catch up on afterwards!)

So, please join us for any or all of the below Peer-to-Peer Hangouts this month! Each is about an hour and they are open to all museum educators, regardless of whether you’re an NAEA member.You can find detailed login information for each Hangout on the NAEA Google+ Page.

Tues, Nov 26 | 4 PM EST
Social and Interactive Programs for Adult Visitors
Molly Kysar (The Metropolitan Museum of Art), Katie Hill (Minneapolis Institute of Arts), and Jaime Kopke (Denver Art Museum)

Tues, Dec 3 | 4 PM EST
Discussion: “Teaching in the Art Museum” in Practice
Amy Kirschke and Chelsea Kelly (Milwaukee Art Museum)

Fri, Dec 6 | 1 PM EST
Model of Practice: Professionalizing and Integrating a Docent Program
Mark Osterman (Vizcaya Museum and Gardens)

Tues, Dec 10 | 4 PM EST
All Together Now: Talking about Teens and Museums
Gabrielle Wyrick, Cecelia Halle, and Aric Oak (ICA/Boston)

Fri, Dec 13 | 1 PM EST
Art Museums and the Common Core State Standards
Claire Moore (The Metropolitan Museum of Art), Sara Egan (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum), and Theresa Soto (Getty)

Fri, Dec 20 | 1 PM EST
Artists as Audiences
Michelle Hagewood (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Some friendly reminders on how to Hangout — be sure that you sign up for, or activate, a Google+ account (not just a Gmail account). You can’t actually “hang out” if you don’t have Google+! Find instructions here. Once you’ve got an account, add NAEA Museum Education Division to your circles so you can easily join in the Hangout event. And if you need more details on how to Hangout, there are some more materials on how to join in on the NAEA Museum Education Division page (scroll down a bit to find the resource).

And of course, once you’re hanging out with us or after you watch an archived Hangout, join the conversation on Twitter using #MusEdPeers!

Since this is a pilot, we’d love to hear feedback from you as the Hangouts launch. Similarly, if you have an idea for a future Hangout, post it on our Google+ page or contact Michelle Grohe or me.

We can’t wait to Hangout with you soon!

Editor’s Note: As ArtMuseumTeaching stays connected to NAEA’s Peer-to-Peer Initiative and all of these fantastic Hangouts, you’ll be able to find discussions and links to post-hangout video archives here, as well, on this sites Google+ Hangout section.  So let’s all get connected, and spread the word!

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