at Adler Planetarium in Chicago, Illinois, United States
Job Description
The Adler Planetarium is seeking a Senior Coordinator of Education to join our dynamic team located on Chicago's Museum Campus. Staff in this role shape the day-to-day implementation and overall portfolio of engagement programs and serve as mentors and role models to the team of Education Specialists. They work closely with other Senior Coordinators of Education and the Senior Manager of Facilitation to develop meaningful opportunities for learning and engagement related to museum exhibitions, artifacts, and educational initiatives. From hands-on activities to gallery activations, they take an audience-first approach to experience making and learning design and are comfortable adapting and revising their approach and planned activities.
This individual will also be responsible for:
- Providing day-to-day supervision of floor programming.
- Making real-time operational and customer service decisions to ensure a great guest experience
- Adjusting schedules and daily assignments for the Education Specialist team, including program offerings, breaks, lunches, and rotations
- Leading daily team meetings, such as morning huddles, check ins, and debriefs
- Connecting and communicating with other floor teams on daily operations
- Training and mentoring Education Specialists on facilitation, content, and customer service.
- Practicing regular observation of floor interactions and conducting real-time assessment of Education Specialists performance in order to ensure individual behaviors or practices reflect department and organizational standards of visitor experience
- Training and modeling on new programs and providing daily coaching on facilitation techniques and presentation skills
- Managing all program supplies and materials. Ordering necessary supplies with budget guidance. Maintaining organization of department storage spaces
- Assist in coordinating and leading ongoing training and development sessions, supporting the learning and growth of all team members
- Implementing educational programs and initiatives. This includes delivering high-level facilitation on the floor, in order to ensure fresh and polished facilitation skills.
- Developing interpretive experiences and materials for adult, family, and school audiences.
- Interpretive program development (R&D, drafting concept documents and training plans, and collaborating with department leadership)
- Prototyping, analyzing, and evaluating programs and the visitor experience
- Continual development as an informal learning professional in areas such as content knowledge, audience research, experience trends, and museum education
