What I Thought I Should Talk About
Initially when I began this week’s assignment I just knew I’d use something from the blog I’d stumbled upon during the Digital Curation assignment: Renovated Learning by Diana Rendina.
As informative and practical-minded as I find her blog about creating and maintaining maker and collaborative learning spaces (she has a very informative view of using whiteboards that I find absolutely vital to creation projects of all types), I knew I needed to traipse across the world wide web in search of something a bit more….socially useful especially after reading the convincing arguments of Angevine and Weisgrau (2015) in regards to 3 key concepts when looking at the purpose of STE(A)M and Makerspaces: Agency, Authenticity, and Audience.
What Really Inspired Me
Meet Digital Promise, a blog that is a conglomeration of education leaders, researchers, and technology developers who work to provide educational experiences, opportunities, and training to close the digital learning gap that exists for many of our students.
The article that had caught my attention was, “Student Makers Create Solution for Kids in Need.” This particular article struck the cord of: Agency: a student made their learning intimately personal and unique, Authenticity: a student was able to engage with work in the community in which they live, and Audience: by considering who the project was being created for, these two particular students were able to contextualize the place of their creation and their own place in being facilitators of this creation in the wider society they live in.
The students had access to what is called a Learning Studio (put together through a joint effort of HP and Microsoft’s Reinvent the Classroom initiative) that came equipped with a 3-D printer and a variety of other materials. Basically, Quentin Ellis came upon a young girl at his church who had lost her arm to disease and was having problems adjusting to her new prosthesis. With the help of another student partner (Lucas Bacon), they were able to create a Lego-like kit where children could participate in the creation of a prosthesis that was functional and not intimidating while educating the children on the process on how to use the custom-made device.
From our variety of resources, lectures (thank you, Dr. Moorefield-Lang), and articles this week, we do know that 3-D printers are pretty standard in many makerspace areas thanks to technology grants. So having students engage with their peers in the community who have such unique needs and provide them with an opportunity to participate in projects similar to this is a wonderful idea. It allows both the creator and the person in need to become collaborators in projects that are meaningful and practical for all involved. For me, this article actually worked beautifully in illustrating how sticking with those three essential concepts when looking at these challenge-based learning opportunities (you can thank Digital Promise for the change in terminology) moves education forward from an isolated classroom setting into the practical applications in the real world.
How does this apply to libraries?
Dr. Moorefield-Lang mentioned (and I remember touring Richland after they implemented the new teen makerspace areas on the main floor of the library) that RCPL has a 3D printer. Now, this is a public space… but I am a public librarian, and my programming heart says: “If my school that is local in Richland county could not afford our own 3D printer in our makerspace, why not ask to coordinate with our local public libraries and look at collaborating with unique community groups to create practical projects?” As Angevine and Weisgrau (2015) said: “creating sharable artifacts is a compelling way to learn anything.”
Most of our middle and high schools (and elementary schools) have clubs that meet afterschool. Partnering with our fellow library science professionals (and other community members) to give our students a challenge to create projects for would give a purpose and an automatic authentic audience for the students’ creations. Interestingly enough, Quentin mentioned that his first prototype of the lego-like hand prosthesis was made out of balsa wood, glue, and tape. There are low-tech options for such unique creations, but taking the extra time to reach out to our community members to help our students learn practical skills in engineering, computation, and design… would be a phenomenal boon to the entire educational experience for all involved.
The key would be in having our students document their process: both in thinking and creation so they can see their steps and assess their own methodology for streamlining their procedures for the future. In this instance, we act as facilitators for other presenters and community members to help engage and interact with our students.
Sources
Angevine, C. and Weisgrau, J. (2015). Situating Makerspaces in Schools. Retrieved from: http://hybridpedagogy.org/situating-makerspaces-in-schools/.
Britton, L. (2012). The makings of maker spaces, part 1: space for creation, not just consumption. Retrieved from: http://www.thedigitalshift.com/2012/10/public-services/the-makings-of-maker-spaces-part-1-space-for-creation-not-just-consumption/.
Moorefield-Lang, H. (2018). Makerspaces 761. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/BBsEHD0XE6E
Rendin, D. (2015). 3 way whiteboards can make your space more awesome. Retrieved from: http://renovatedlearning.com/2015/06/01/whiteboards-for-the-win/.