Learning in the Making: Studying, Understanding, and Designing Makerspaces

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

In this symposium we will share the results of our NSF Cyberlearning project, Learning in the Making. In the first year of our three-year study, we have conducted ethnographies of three unique makerspaces with the goal of understanding what is common across these environments as well as how their unique configurations yield different learning arrangements, roles, goals, and roles. Our session will include three papers and a discussant: 1) A macro look at the maker movement through a meta-analysis of MAKE magazine; 2) An understanding of the range of practices and learning arrangements present across makerspaces and; 3) An exploration of the micro-practice of Google group communication for asynchronous community building and making-from-a-distance.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Media, Culture, and Curriculum

Chair

• Erica Rosenfeld Halverson, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Papers

• Making as a Community Learning Practice: Textual Analysis of Make Magazine - Lisa Brahms, University of Pittsburgh; Kevin Crowley, University of Pittsburgh

• Learning in the Making: A Comparative Case Study of Three Makerspaces - Kimberly Marie Sheridan, George Mason University; Erica Rosenfeld Halverson, University of Wisconsin - Madison; Breanne K. Litts, University of Wisconsin - Madison; Trevor Owens, George Mason University; Lisa Brahms, University of Pittsburgh

• Making Online Maker Communities - Breanne K. Litts, University of Wisconsin - Madison; Andrew Stoiber, University of Wisconsin - Madison; Maria Bakker, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Discussant

• Kylie A. Peppler, Indiana University - Bloomington