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Academic makerspaces as a “design journey”: developing a learning model for how women students tap into their “toolbox of design”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2020

Megan Tomko ,
Wendy Newstetter ,
Melissa W. Alemán ,
Robert L. Nagel  and
Julie Linsey Open the ORCID record for Julie Linsey [Opens in a new window]
Megan Tomko
Affiliation:
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
Wendy Newstetter
Affiliation:
College of Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
Melissa W. Alemán
Affiliation:
School of Communication Studies, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA, USA
Robert L. Nagel
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA, USA
Julie Linsey*
Affiliation:
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
*
Author for correspondence: Julie Linsey, E-mail: julie.linsey@me.gatech.edu
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Abstract

An academic makerspace, home to tools and people dedicated to facilitating and inspiring a making culture, is characterized by openness, creativity, learning, design, and community. This nontraditional learning environment has found an immense increase in popularity and investment in the last decade. Further, makerspaces have been shown to be highly gendered, privileging men's and masculine understandings of making. The spike in popularity warrants deeper analysis, examining the value of these spaces for women and if learning is occurring in these spaces, specifically at higher education institutions. We implemented a phenomenologically based interviewing process to capture the making experiences of 20 women students, recruited through purposive and snowball sampling. By eliciting the narratives of women students, we captured how making, designing, and creating evolved through gendered experiences in the university makerspace. Each interview was transcribed and resulted in around 868 pages of single-spaced text transcriptions. The data were analyzed through multiple cycles of open and axial coding for common themes and patterns, where makerspaces create a culture of learning, facilitate students’ design journey, and form a laboratory for creativity. These themes forwarded the creation of a learning model that showcases how design and learning interact in the makerspace. This work demonstrates that women students are engaging learning and inspiration; developing confidence and resilience; and learning how to work with others and collaborate.

Keywords

Learningmakerspacesphenomenologically based interviewingqualitative researchwomen students
Type
Research Article
Information
AI EDAM , Volume 34 , Special Issue 3: Thematic Collection: Fablabs, Makerspaces, and Design Spaces , August 2020 , pp. 363 - 373
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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