Title: Maker movement in higher education
Author Name: Brittni Favorite

 

Introduction

The maker movement strives to allow students to learn by building a physical product or creating a digital project. Makerspaces can host a diverse range of technology and machines for creating physical objects depending on the focus of the maker space in question. Those who utilize maker spaces to create are called Makers. Arguably the first inkling of the maker movement could be seen back in the 1960s with MIT’s Tech Model Railroad Club. The first group of people to call themselves hackers, were a group of students at MIT who would take apart toy train models to learn more about the mechanics and technology to hack them into other types of machinery as well as had access to one of the first mass-produced computers (Levy, 2014). The term “maker” was coined by Dougherty through his creation of the Make Magazine. No matter how digitally centric the world becomes, humans will always feel pride in something they have created with their hands (Dougherty 2013). 

The maker movement in higher education is difficult to achieve, but when done well and backed by the appropriate stakeholders, an inclusive culture of learners assisting each other with the creation of projects that foster the development of technical, creative, critical, and ethical production skills is an achievable end goal (Peppler, as cited in Reiser & Dempsey, 2018, p. 178). Getting to the end product requires years of dedication and support as well as buy-in from the students. The maker movement has gained traction over the years and over many disciplines by the realization on the maker’s behalf of the potential for stimulating hands-on creation (Peppler & Bender, 2013).

Overview of the Case

The H-Lab at Georgia Southern University stands for both “Humanities Lab” and “History Lab” since it is the home of the Digital Humanities minor that is run by the History Department in the College of Arts and Humanities. The lab was developed and is maintained as a lab for students that are enrolled in the Digital Humanities minor to work on their class projects as well as complete their capstone digital portfolio. The Creator Club opens up the lab to students outside of the Digital Humanities to work on school projects and personal projects. The H-Lab features a myriad of technical resources for students to build their project from the ground up including a VR and gaming library, a laser cutter, 3D printers and scanners, recording and filming equipment, Wacom tablets, and a plotter.

The main problematic situation with running a maker space in the higher education environment is the cost and logistics of developing and maintaining the space. While in K-12 education the benefits of the space will benefit all students who are interested. In higher education, the students receiving the educational benefits are usually grouped to one program of study with some spaces being shared between multiple programs of study. In the case of the H-Lab being run by the history department, the cost of running and logistics of maintaining the lab falls solely on the history department; a department that is historically not well funded. To request more money in higher education for a department, there has to be a tangible monetary benefit that can be shown as to why the allocation of more money to the program will be beneficial for the entire university. For maker spaces, the benefits are clear to those involved but are oftentimes difficult to produce data on the success of the collaboration and culture created within the space. Enrollment numbers based around the digital humanities and job placement success after graduation would be the data points to look into to support this type of digital maker space.

The availability of staff or faculty members to monitor and offer help during specific hours in a space is something difficult to set up without proper funding of a position whose sole purpose is to manage the maker space. This is an issue the H-Lab is very familiar with and has struggled to find a solution to since its inception in 2006. Without the proper support, it is left to the faculty members that teach using the lab to maintain the open hours for their students and ensure that the computers and equipment remain functioning and receive the proper software updates in time for the students to utilize the newest features. Without the support of the IT services professionals at the university, this can be a daunting and costly task to undertake for the department. 

Teaching students of different skill levels including soft and hard skills is another problematic situation that faculty members are confronted with solving. Students in K-12 education generally come to the classroom with a base knowledge set that is comparable to their peers with the exception of transfer students who may have a wider or narrower knowledge set. When taking into account all of the different school systems and countries that the students walking into a higher education classroom come from, some students may have already had technical experience running 3D printers and the software skills involved while some students may never have seen a 3D printer or know what goes into creating a model. Many participants in maker spaces feel as if they should not touch the equipment they do not use for fear of breaking something or ruining someone else’s project (Davidson & Price, 2018). 

A commonly known trait of maker spaces across disciplines but especially among engineering students is the lack of diversity with the majority of students utilizing the space being white men. A survey conducted amongst 317 students utilizing a maker space at the University of Pittsburgh in 2018 showed that 81% of respondents were white and 70% were male (Dosse et al., 2019). 

A new situation that has arisen in 2020 and is affecting all maker spaces regardless of location or educational level is the COVID-19 virus. Now, the need for a full-time staff position to keep the equipment sanitized between uses and police the number of people in the lab at once is of utmost importance. Unfortunately, the H-Lab has had to shut down for the time being which is taking the creator club and the culture it has fostered among students down with it for this year. There is hope for a vaccine and a return to normal operations in 2021. 

Solutions Implemented

To properly maintain an actively functioning maker space that provides an inclusive and accepting creative environment, a full-time or part-time staffed position is necessary to make the maker space available at set times to the students of the university that wish to utilize the space. The Design Studio at the University of Delaware is primarily run by a team of students who are hired as TAs and paid hourly to manage the space on a daily basis that works closely with the faculty directors (Roberts & Buckley 2020). 

It is also important to have a management system in place to monitor the required technical updates and maintenance of the machines. To provide this, a monetary support system must be in place for the maker space. In higher education, that means having buy-in from stakeholders at multiple levels to ensure that the space receives the funding it needs and is viewed as a pertinent and marketable solution for students to learn applicable real-world skills. To provide ease of access to students wishing to utilize the space, either a set operation hour should be available as discussed earlier or a membership system should be in place to allow students with key card access to the space when needed.

To alleviate any situations where students are at different skill levels with both technical skills and mechanical skills, the H-Lab has introduced a staged approach to the first two intro courses in the Digital Humanities minor, allowing students without experience in different sectors to choose a specialty and build up their skills around it. The H-Lab encourages a collaborative environment where each student specializes in an area while students with other areas of expertise help them with areas they are unfamiliar with. 

In a study conducted by Hynes and Hynes (2018) on the types of maker spaces that appeal to different genders and majors of higher education students, it was found that creating a more open space where students can easily see the types of machines and raw materials available including transparent storage spaces could increase the likelihood of new coming students to jump into the activities. Less complex spaces and spaces that were set up similarly to the already familiar high school setting were more welcoming to female students which could encourage more female students to take interest in the space and feel more welcome.

Not all maker spaces have reacted to COVID-19 by shutting down. With COVID-19 causing a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), maker spaces across the United States have taken to 3D printing and otherwise manufacturing masks and face shields for themselves and healthcare workers that will accept donations (Corn, MLIS, 2020).

Outcomes

During an interview, when questioned about any failures, Robert Batchelor the Director of Digital Humanities mentioned the only unexpected issue he ran into besides managing the actual space was the amount of time it took for him to get his idea of the H-Lab up and running. Starting as a maker space within the university library, adding on a project called The Indigo Garden, then waiting on a space to be built in a new building on campus that had been promised for years, the H-Lab began in 2006 and even in 2020 has not reached the full potential that Batchelor was dreaming of in 2006. Having now spanned 14 years, one can imagine that the zeal for a dream would start to dwindle, and looking at others to take over and manage the space may be necessary.

Through the creation of a digital humanities maker space at Georgia Southern University, students now have the opportunity to pursue their field of interest while being supported by the community of makers that have similar interests yet are from diverse backgrounds, creating a truly inclusive safe space for creativity and creation. The struggle with higher education is perhaps the number of decisions that lay at the students’ feet when entering college. Making it apparent that there are resources such as the H-Lab amidst a myriad of other resources can be hard to accomplish. Especially when digital humanities is not an area that a lot of students are aware exists and if they hear of it, are unsure of the job potential after graduation. 

Implications

Makerspaces, while offering many advantages to the makers that use them, take a lot of resources to manage on a daily basis and maintain the machinery and equipment within them. They usually take many years to get off the ground and to garner the support they ultimately need from the managing department to achieve the results that the university expects. Through a properly designed space and a scaffolding to enable students to build skillsets they thought too difficult to learn in the past, a maker space can enhance the education of students across all disciplines. It’s hard work for the department, staff, and faculty but with a promise as inspiring as creating a diverse community of students who want to help each other to explore and create that sets up the students for success in their future job positions is a possibility that makes it worth the time and effort.

 

References

Corn, MLIS, M. (2020, November 19). Coronavirus guide. UNLV University Libraries. Retrieved November 27, 2020, from https://guides.library.unlv.edu/coronavirus/makerspaces

Davidson, A., & Price, D. W. (2018). Does your school have the maker fever? An experiential learning approach to developing maker competencies. LEARNing Landscapes, 11(1), 103-120. https://doi.org/10.36510/learnland.v11i1.926

Dosse, L. A., Mena, I. B., & Clark, W. W. (2019, June). Assessment of a university makerspace using a quantitative and qualitative student survey [Paper presentation]. 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Tampa, FL. https://www.asee.org/public/conferences/140/papers/25999/view

Dougherty, D. (2013). The maker mindset. In Honey, M., & Kanter, D. E. (Eds.), Design, make, play: Growing the next generation of STEM innovators (pp. 7–16). Routledge.

Hynes, M. M., & Hynes, W. J. (2018). If You Build It, Will They Come? Student Preferences for Makerspace Environments in Higher Education. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 28(3), 867–883.

Levy, S. (2014, November 21). The tech model railroad club. Wired. https://www.wired.com/2014/11/the-tech-model-railroad-club/

Martin, L. (2015). The promise of the maker movement for education. Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER), 5(1). https://doi.org/10.7771/2157-9288.1099

Peppler, K., & Bender, S. (2013). Maker movement spreads innovation one project at a time. Phi Delta Kappan, 95(3), 22-27. https://doi.org/10.1177/003172171309500306

Reiser, R. A., & Dempsey, J. V. (2018). Trends and issues in instructional design and technology (4th ed.). Pearson.

Roberts, D., & Buckley, J. (2020). Case Study: Maker Space Management by Minions. Advances in Engineering Education.

 

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