Tag Archives: academic library makerspace

Maker Literacies Project and Lesson Plans

We had the amazing opportunity to work with the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries for the second phase of the IMLS Maker Literacies project. For our part, three of our faculty at Lawrence University who were interested in using the makerspace with their courses created maker assignments using UTA’s Maker Competencies. As an academic makerspace, we’re thrilled that UTA has not only made the competencies available, but they’ve made a directory of course assignments available as well!

The Assignments from Lawrence University faculty

All Course Lesson Plans

  • Filter lesson plans by maker competencies, discipline, partner, or year, or just browse the list at the Lesson Plans page.

Maker Competencies List

  • Scroll through the Maker Competencies list to view each literacy along with subcomponents to further define each one. These competencies can easily be tied to course learning goals and outcomes and can be easily assessed at the end of the assignment.

We’re so grateful for the partners at the UTA Libraries, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and University of Nevada Reno for taking on this large project and sharing so all academic and educational makerspaces could benefit!

Academic Makerspace Course Uses 2022

Learn about the cool stuff that students and faculty have been making in our academic makerspace in our summer coffeehouse presentation! Our makerspace is located in the library of a small liberal arts campus and serves all academic departments.

Go to the Makerspace Coffeehouse 2022 presentation

Contact us a makerspace@lawrence.edu if you’d like to talk academic makerspaces!

Makerspace in the News

Our awesome Communications department has been putting together some great content about the makerspace!

Video: This is Lawrence- Makerspace

Blog Post: 2 Minutes With… Kelvin Maestre

Kelvin Maestre ’21, watches as a laser cutter starts its work on a piece of wood in the Makerspace on the first floor of the Seeley G. Mudd Library. (Photo by Danny Damiani)

Thanks to our Communications friends for helping us spread the news about the Lawrence University Makerspace!

Maker Competencies

To help our faculty create assignments that use the makerspace and have easily assessable outcomes, we’ve put together some Maker Competencies.

Click on image to see a larger version of the competencies in Flickr.

ACQUIRING & SHARING SKILLS:

  • Learns new equipment or technology and is able to use with minimal supervision
  • Exhibits a strong enough grasp of new skills to assist peers with newly-acquired knowledge

THINKING CREATIVELY:

  • Applies meaning to projects as tied to coursework
  • Uses abstract thinking to apply a tool or technology in a new way to carry out task
  • Employs creative thinking and problem solving to arrive at end product

ACCOMPLISHING GOALS:

  • Follows multi-step, procedure-based tasks in the correct order
  • Realizes an idea from concept to finished project

RESPECTING SPACE & OTHERS:

  • Uses tools in a safe and respectful manner
  • Demonstrates care and neatness with equipment and shared space
  • Respects copyright and intellectual property, gives credit when appropriate
  • Shows empathy toward others by following rules of the space

We hope these competencies will help makerspace educators, teachers, professors, etc. come up with fun, inspiring, hands-on assignments with outcomes that can be easily assessed!