Maker Competencies and the Undergraduate Curriculum

Paper presented at ISAM 2018, International Symposium on Academic Makerspaces.

Abstract: The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries was awarded a $50,000 planning grant by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) for FY 2017-2018 allowing us to develop a pilot program to explore course integration of makerspaces into the undergraduate curriculum. The goal of the pilot is to fashion case studies for integrating academic library makerspaces into undergraduate coursework. A minimum of two case studies at each of four selected partner sites (University of Nevada, Reno, UMass Amherst, Boise State University, and UNC Chapel Hill), as well as at our home institution, are currently under evaluation. Each case study represents a unique undergraduate course, faculty member, curricula, and group of students. Coordinators at each partner site identified faculty who were not only willing to integrate making into their courses, but who were also willing to include assessment of student learning over a range of competencies believed to be acquired when students complete project-based assignments in makerspaces. Upon successful completion of our pilot, faculty will provide the grant team ample feedback about the assigned projects, the learning that took place, and how they assessed that learning. Participating faculty come from wide variety of disciplines including Architecture, Art, Biology, Civil Engineering, Computer Science, Education, English, Geology, History, Industrial Engineering, Mathematics, Philosophy, and Public Administration.

You can download the full conference paper from UTA Libraries Research Commons.

Recommended citation:

Wallace, Martin K., Gretchen Trkay, Katie Musick Peery, Morgan Chivers, and Tara Radniecki. “Maker Competencies and the Undergraduate Curriculum.” Paper presented at the International Symposium on Academic Makerspaces, Stanford, CA, August 3-5, 2018.