Work-In-Progress: Make It Count - Supporting Makerspace Course Outcomes With Blended Learning

Anna Engelke

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: Multidisciplinary Engineering Division Technical Session - NAE Grand Challenges, Graduate Students, Sustainability, and Makerspaces
Page Count: 5
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--41775
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/41775
Download Count: 318

Paper Authors

biography

Anna Engelke North Carolina State University at Raleigh

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Anna Engelke is the Education Program Manager for the BeAM network of makerspaces at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. Her work focuses on developing makerspace learning environments, including maker course integration, instructional design for tool trainings, and mentor programs for makerspace staff. She is a current doctoral student in the Learning Design + Technology program at NC State University. Her research interests include communities of practice, professional development for students, and makerspace instructional design.

Previously, she served as the Program Manager for Tinkering and Technology at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, NC. She earned her master’s degree in Education Technology, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2017. She lives in Durham, NC, with her husband and their two terrible cats.

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Abstract

This WIP paper investigates future implications of on-line and hybrid learning environments created by the Be a Maker (BeAM) Makerspace Network at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill during the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic. UNC-Chapel Hill is both a liberal arts and R1 research institution, supporting a diverse community of 18,000+ undergraduate students across a wide range of disciplines, including several engineering disciplines. Consequently, the BeAM Makerspace Network engages more than 75 different courses across more than 30 academic departments in integrating design and making projects into their syllabi. These projects are creatively devised by faculty, challenging students to analyze and apply course content throughout an iterative design process. However, preserving the hands-on, collaborative nature of these projects became a challenge, as student access to the makerspace became limited due to pandemic restrictions and remote learning.

The makerspace staff and departmental faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill employed several strategies and innovative adaptations to tackle this challenge. Using preliminary data collected from makerspace courses before and after the onset of the pandemic, this paper explores the hypothesis that students were able to engage in comparably meaningful design and making processes for both 1) in-person and 2) blended learning environments.

Student access to the makerspace increased through a variety of newly created online and hybrid learning environments. All makerspace tool trainings were rapidly redesigned to include new online learning modules, resulting in 10 new online training modules launching within a period of 8 months. Since launch, these online trainings have recorded 3075 unique users, with more than 80,000 individual visits. Previously, students had to attend group training sessions in the makerspace to complete their training. These sessions were replaced with a blended model of structured, self-paced independent projects and virtual coaching sessions with staff.

Beyond changes to fundamental tool trainings, faculty across departments collaborated with makerspace staff to create inventive solutions for their maker-integrated courses. Maker materials kits were mailed out to several courses, with one Marine Sciences course using them to prototype arctic exploration vessels that students could test at home against various challenges. A course from the Classics department worked with makerspace staff to 3D print small versions of various ancient artifacts, which students picked up and remixed using other maker materials. An engineering course challenged their students to create digital files for the laser cutter, then scheduled live sessions with instructors in the makerspace so that they could remotely test the fabrication of their designs.

Even as social distancing measures relax at UNC-Chapel Hill in fall 2021, many makerspace faculty have continued several of the innovative solutions created during the pandemic. The flexibility and accessibility afforded by online learning, combined with the tactile nature of using makerspace tools to design and create, has created an effective model for blended makerspace learning at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Citation
Format

Engelke, A. (2022, August), Work-In-Progress: Make It Count - Supporting Makerspace Course Outcomes With Blended Learning Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41775

TY - CPAPER
AB - This WIP paper investigates future implications of on-line and hybrid learning environments created by the Be a Maker (BeAM) Makerspace Network at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill during the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic. UNC-Chapel Hill is both a liberal arts and R1 research institution, supporting a diverse community of 18,000+ undergraduate students across a wide range of disciplines, including several engineering disciplines. Consequently, the BeAM Makerspace Network engages more than 75 different courses across more than 30 academic departments in integrating design and making projects into their syllabi. These projects are creatively devised by faculty, challenging students to analyze and apply course content throughout an iterative design process. However, preserving the hands-on, collaborative nature of these projects became a challenge, as student access to the makerspace became limited due to pandemic restrictions and remote learning.

The makerspace staff and departmental faculty at UNC-Chapel Hill employed several strategies and innovative adaptations to tackle this challenge. Using preliminary data collected from makerspace courses before and after the onset of the pandemic, this paper explores the hypothesis that students were able to engage in comparably meaningful design and making processes for both 1) in-person and 2) blended learning environments.

Student access to the makerspace increased through a variety of newly created online and hybrid learning environments. All makerspace tool trainings were rapidly redesigned to include new online learning modules, resulting in 10 new online training modules launching within a period of 8 months. Since launch, these online trainings have recorded 3075 unique users, with more than 80,000 individual visits. Previously, students had to attend group training sessions in the makerspace to complete their training. These sessions were replaced with a blended model of structured, self-paced independent projects and virtual coaching sessions with staff.

Beyond changes to fundamental tool trainings, faculty across departments collaborated with makerspace staff to create inventive solutions for their maker-integrated courses. Maker materials kits were mailed out to several courses, with one Marine Sciences course using them to prototype arctic exploration vessels that students could test at home against various challenges. A course from the Classics department worked with makerspace staff to 3D print small versions of various ancient artifacts, which students picked up and remixed using other maker materials. An engineering course challenged their students to create digital files for the laser cutter, then scheduled live sessions with instructors in the makerspace so that they could remotely test the fabrication of their designs.

Even as social distancing measures relax at UNC-Chapel Hill in fall 2021, many makerspace faculty have continued several of the innovative solutions created during the pandemic. The flexibility and accessibility afforded by online learning, combined with the tactile nature of using makerspace tools to design and create, has created an effective model for blended makerspace learning at UNC-Chapel Hill.
AU - Anna Engelke
CY - Minneapolis, MN
DA - 2022/08/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Work-In-Progress: Make It Count - Supporting Makerspace Course Outcomes With Blended Learning
UR - https://peer.asee.org/41775
DO - 10.18260/1-2--41775
ER -