Do we really understand and learn in museum visits? The reality from Bologna, Italy

Abstract

Every museum or heritage has a message (or history) and that it intends to transmit through its expository exercise, for this purpose it uses different channels. However, this message is not always perceived by the public and therefore it is impossible for a teaching-learning process to occur during the visit, therefore, it is necessary to identify (tune in) and use these channels or instruments of communication for an effective educommunication (Aparici, 2012) during the visit. This article presents an investigation in which a tool (questionnaire) was developed and validated whose sole and real objective was to evaluate how the bidirectional communication process is (museum-visitor and visitor-museum). It was carried out in the Italian city of Bologna, for the more than verified quantity, quality and variety of museums it houses. The results are certainly interesting, on the one hand it showed how museums are the institutions responsible for breaking the communicative ice and that they have to be responsible for optimizing communication channels and, on the other hand, showed how visitors to these institutions, their audience, give clues as to how the new communication systems are, how they use them and what is expected of them.