Makerspace in Progress: Creation and Iteration

Many colleges and universities have or are considering a makerspace. How can we design a campus makerspace to occupy a unique niche within a broader creative environment? What kinds of programs, services, and equipment can we offer to help students satisfy academic requirements while exploring and expanding their creative abilities? And how do you engage your target audience as co-creaters when that audience is filled with moving targets (i.e., busy undergraduates)? With our pilot program, we seek to answer these questions through the application of design thinking principles in order to provide our campus community with an agile, responsive makerspace.

OUTCOMES: Apply design thinking principles to the creation (or adaptation) of a preliminary plan for a campus makerspace * Evaluate various methods of engaging undergraduate students as participants in the design process * Evaluate various assessment strategies for determining the success of makerspace offerings