University makerspaces: Characteristics and impact on student success in engineering and engineering technology education

Abstract

With the growth and increased visibility of the Maker Movement, a large number of makerspaces have been established in different venues, including community spaces, museums, and libraries. In the world of academia, makerspaces have multiplied on university and college campuses over the past decade, as spaces for students to enhance their education with creative and experiential learning. Makerspaces, as a supplement to traditional classroom learning, have the capacity to offer educational value to both engineering and engineering technology students. This paper explores how a respondent group of engineering deans and engineering technology deans and department chairs view, implement, and value Making and makerspaces within their academic institutions. In spring 2016, the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) distributed a survey to learn how and to what extent makerspaces are implemented in engineering and engineering technology schools and programs and to assess the perceived value of makerspaces and Making in these settings. The ultimate goal of this survey is to help inform how Making and makerspaces can best be incorporated into engineering and engineering technology education. Findings from this survey indicate that university makerspaces emphasize both education and entrepreneurship in their primary uses, though they may vary in physical characteristics like ownership and operation, size and equipment type and quantity. Regarding impact, survey respondents perceived that Making results in positive outcomes on student-level and university-levels, increasing diversity, access and retention, and to a lesser extent, improving student grades and classroom performance. Engineering deans focused more on university-level impact (including diversity and retention), while engineering technology deans and chairs focused on student-level impact (including performance and grades).