Smithsonian Learning Lab

Smithsonian Learning Lab
Name	Smithsonian Learning Lab
Type	Digital platform
Owner	Smithsonian Institution
Launched	2014
Country	United States
Language	English

Smithsonian Learning Lab The Smithsonian Learning Lab is a digital platform developed by the Smithsonian Institution to provide access to multimodal resources from the Institution’s museums, archives, and research centers. It supports educators, students, researchers, and the public by enabling creation, curation, and sharing of learning materials using primary sources from Smithsonian collections. The platform integrates assets from across Smithsonian units and connects to broader cultural heritage, museum studies, and pedagogy networks.

Overview

The platform aggregates digitized items from the National Museum of Natural History, National Air and Space Museum, National Museum of American History, National Portrait Gallery (United States), National Museum of African American History and Culture, National Museum of the American Indian, Anacostia Community Museum, Freer Gallery of Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, National Zoological Park (United States), Smithsonian American Art Museum, National Museum of Asian Art, Renwick Gallery, S. Dillon Ripley Center, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, National Postal Museum, National Museum of Natural History Department of Mineral Sciences, and other constituent museums and research centers. It connects users with images, recordings, manuscripts, and three-dimensional objects drawn from collections related to figures and institutions such as Abraham Lincoln, Frida Kahlo, Neil Armstrong, Dorothy Vaughan, Rachel Carson, Louis Armstrong, Marian Anderson, Ansel Adams, Thomas Edison, Charles Darwin, Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglass, George Washington, John F. Kennedy, Harriet Tubman, Helen Keller, Amelia Earhart, Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Wright brothers, Albert Einstein, Alexander Graham Bell, Eleanor Roosevelt, W.E.B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, Mark Twain, Emily Dickinson, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso.

History and Development

Development began as a response to digitization initiatives and educational outreach programs across the Smithsonian Institution prompted by partnerships with organizations such as the Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Endowment for the Humanities, and philanthropic donors. The platform’s public launch built on prior digital projects including the Smithsonian Institution Archives online collections, the Smithsonian Transcription Center, the Smithsonian X 3D program, and collaborations with the Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, and the Digital Public Library of America. Early iterations integrated metadata standards promoted by the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative and content models influenced by the Getty Research Institute. Milestones include feature rollouts aligned with exhibitions at venues like National Museum of American History and thematic initiatives tied to anniversaries such as the Bicentennial of the United States and observances including Black History Month and Women's History Month.

Features and Functionality

The Learning Lab provides tools for creating digital "collections" and "learning activities" using assets from participating museums and external contributors such as New York Public Library, British Museum, Smithsonian Libraries, and partnering universities including Harvard University, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Chicago, Columbia University, and Georgetown University. Features include search faceting, tagging, annotation, and embedding, and export options compatible with learning management systems like Moodle, Canvas (learning management system), and Blackboard (company). Integration options support standards from the IMS Global Learning Consortium and protocols such as IIIF and metadata schemas adopted by the Council on Library and Information Resources. The platform also supports multimedia formats including high-resolution images, audio from collections like the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, and 3D models used in conjunction with augmented reality and virtual reality initiatives at institutions like the National Air and Space Museum and Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

Collections and Content

Content spans fine art, natural history specimens, technological artifacts, manuscripts, and audiovisual recordings from curatorial units such as the National Museum of African Art, Cooper Hewitt, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, National Museum of Natural History Department of Anthropology, and research centers including the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. Notable object types include musical recordings associated with Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, photographs by Gordon Parks and Ansel Adams, manuscripts linked to Edgar Allan Poe and Walt Whitman, and design objects from figures like Charles and Ray Eames and Isamu Noguchi. The platform aggregates exhibition media from events such as The Price of Freedom and collections tied to historic moments like World War II, the Civil Rights Movement, the American Revolution, and expeditions like the Voyage of the Beagle.

Educational Programs and Partnerships

The Learning Lab underpins Smithsonian educational initiatives including programming connected to Smithsonian Folkways, the Smithsonian Science Education Center, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, the Smithsonian Latino Center, the Youth Access Grants, and professional development tied to teacher institutes. Partnerships extend to K–12 networks, libraries, museums, and higher education consortia such as the American Alliance of Museums, Association of American Universities, National Science Teachers Association, National Council for the Social Studies, and nonprofit partners like The Nature Conservancy and National Geographic Society. Collaborative projects have aligned with traveling exhibitions, loans programs, and outreach campaigns such as those associated with Save America's Treasures and national commemorations like Juneteenth.

User Community and Accessibility

Users include classroom teachers, museum educators, librarians, students, researchers, and lifelong learners from institutions such as Smithsonian Affiliations, public school districts, and universities including University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University, Ohio State University, University of Michigan, University of Texas at Austin, University of Florida, and community partners. Accessibility features and policies draw on standards promulgated by the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and institutional commitments to open access modeled after initiatives at the Library of Congress and Europeana. The platform accommodates multilingual metadata efforts and content use policies coordinated with the Office of the Chief Information Officer (Smithsonian).

Reception and Impact

Scholars, educators, and media outlets have cited the Learning Lab in discussions of digital humanities, museum pedagogy, and public history alongside projects like the Digital Public Library of America, Europeana, and academic digital repositories at Harvard Library and the Digital Scholarship Lab (University of Richmond). It has been used in classroom case studies highlighted by organizations including the American Historical Association, National Education Association, Edutopia, and Education Week. Evaluations reference its role in increasing access to primary sources during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting remote learning initiatives tied to institutions like public school systems and higher education consortia, and informing best practices for digital curation at museums and libraries worldwide.

Category:Smithsonian Institution