Describe your background and understanding of the Maker Movement and related concepts

Describe your background and understanding of the Maker Movement and related concepts

Content Requirements:

• Abstract – A summary of no more than 100 words describing the contents, focus, and general

conclusions of your paper.

• Body of your Manuscript

o Introduction and Context

§ Please describe your background and understanding of the Maker Movement and related concepts such as Problem-based Learning, Making, Hacking, and Third Places, prior to taking this class. Then please consider how your

knowledge and understanding of these concepts have changed since taking this

class. Finally, please describe your unique context and/or lenses that inform

how you’re approaching this class and the concepts we’ve been covering.

o Main Topic

§ Please describe your main topic of interest in relation to the Maker Movement

and related concepts. For some of you this may involve discussing how what

we’ve addressed can be leveraged in your unique contexts presently or in the

future (e.g. a specific project you might undertake, specific activities you’ll

develop), while others will be discussing related concepts such as providing

credit for work, innovation, concepts of ownership, use of materials for

instructional development, or discussing differences in how your home country

handles the making of things in education and informal learning.

§ This is the section where you will provide citations to works we’ve read in class

(though you can certainly utilize them in other sections of your manuscript as

well). You may also reference other materials you locate in your own

explorations or are relevant from other parts of your professional or academic

experiences (i.e. jobs, other classes, independent reading, etc.). Think of this like

having a conversation with me where you tell me which portions of the

materials you’re basing your understanding on, what concepts most resonated

with you, how that relates to your context area, and what new kinds of

connections you’re making.

§ If I was tackling this as a student I would focus on two of my context areas of

teacher preparation and technology integration. As part of that I would want to

bring in some literature considerations from teacher education and technology

integration. This might take the form of concept definitions, a summary of how

teachers use technology, and some discussion of how pre-service teachers are

prepared. I could then talk about how I might address some of these

considerations through a project such as how some maker activities could be

brought into different subject areas. I might also talk a little about a spectrum of

activities such as basic paper or string activities up to higher end options that

might involve using a computer or 3D printer. I could then identify some links

with the readings for considerations that may need to be addressed when

helping teachers or pre-service teachers to develop similar projects and how

they could be used to help their students in the development of 21st Century

Skills by having students solve authentic problems or demonstrate some

advanced understanding through the development of something related to the

lesson. Using any portion of my example above, can you see how you might

develop your own topic?

o Future Explorations, Possibilities, and Growth Opportunities

§ In this section please consider areas of future exploration or areas of growth

that you may be able to achieve in relationship to the Maker Movement and

related concepts. In writing this section you may find that as you’ve worked

through this portion of the seminar you’ve developed new questions or new

lenses which to view our field or your own unique contexts. Similarly, you may

have new or different ideas about the dissemination of your own work.

o Concluding Thoughts

§ In this section you’ll be summarizing what you’ve addressed in your manuscript,

but I also want you to take this opportunity to be reflective. As we’ve worked

through the seminar we’ve seen that concepts like what constitutes a

Makerspace or Maker-like activities and what constitutes learning have changed

over time. Similarly we’ve explored ways that we can play/work with different

materials to either educate, subvert, express, bring people together, cause

people to question, or serve as a foundation for future work. Having read,

discussed, and experienced these things what are your thoughts on all of this

and how these topics might evolve in the future?

§ NOTE: I’m not looking for a particular answer here, so please don’t feel that I’m

looking for a “right” answer. This is just an opportunity to look back over the

proverbial ground that we’ve covered through unfamiliar territory on this little

journey of ours together.

Examples of paper titles to help in this paper:

The Future OVMoD Discovery Lab

Maker Movement

o(NOTE: This was a reflective piece about how the student and her family have always been making and the things she changed in her classroom during the class to develop her own makerspace.

Treasure Hunting Maker Project

o(NOTE: using university library archives as a medium for exploration)

Developing a makerspace at an e-waste site

Using a makerspace in the training of instructional designers

What can TESOL learn from the maker movement?

Developing a language lab from a maker perspective

Potholes in the Maker Movement’s Road to Success

The Makerspace Movement, 21st Century Skills, and Implications for Instructional Designers

Developing a makerspace in a K-12 setting in Saudi Arabia

Maker-Space Proposal for the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training Institute in Kuwait: PAAET Maker Club (PMC)

Makerspace for Second Language Teachers’ Making with Movies

Making a Book: The Makerspace Project