Make the Grade: Integrating Making into the Higher Education Curriculum

Abstract

Makerspaces provide an avenue for individuals and groups to independently create projects, learn how to use equipment, and tinker away. However, they can also be used by students to complete making-related assignments for courses. How are makerspaces being integrated into the curriculum in higher education? This session will provide examples drawn from academic makerspace literature and from individual makerspaces on how faculty members are including makerspaces and making activities in their courses to meet learning objectives. Along with these examples, methods that academic makerspaces can use to help faculty create assignments and to support these activities will be identified. These may include faculty learning communities, grants, and other instruction and encouragement aimed at creating maker assignments. Taking this one step further, the presentation will also seek to apply the set of makerspace competencies defined by the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries to assignments beyond the ones considered in their project. Can their set of competencies be applied to those assignments, and does categorizing the assignments by competencies shed light on what types of assignments faculty are creating? A final part of the presentation will examine literature and examples of makerspace integration in the K-12 curriculum. Are there approaches used in this setting that might be applied to higher education?