Case Studies
Makerspace: Celebrating creativity in teaching
17 May 2023
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Educator Makerspace
Join us to explore the ways in which crafting, tinkering, and wondering can engage and empower educators and learners.
Contact Tracey or Guylaine to find out more.
Are you a teacher who enjoys exploring and experimenting with how digital technology can enhance learning in creative ways?
Would you like to conduct your experiments with a facilitator and cohort of colleagues?
Then the Alphaplus Educator Makerspace is for you.
A makerspace is a place where people come together to create or invent things, either using traditional crafts or technology. At the AlphaPlus Educator Makerspace, we combine the craft of teaching with newer technologies to make things that elevate teaching and learning. We choose a teaching craft and match it to a technology and then get together to tinker and experiment. See below for more information about makerspaces in education and AlphaPlus.
Here are some of the highlights of the AlphaPlus Educator Makerspace experience as described by a former participant:
“The stimulation of being in a group of curious, congenial educators/lifelong learners; the access to an excellently curated bank of resources and expert coaching thanks to Guylaine and Tracey; the flexibility of project direction, pacing and final product deadline, which in my case likely made the difference between not finishing and creating something I was happy to share.”
What is a makerspace?
Makerspaces are laboratories for learning. You will have an opportunity to work hands-on with tools and raw materials that support invention.
The Alphaplus Educator Makerspace is a creative, innovative place where you can use digital technology to make something wonderful and learn techniques that you can use with learners.
A maker space is not only a place where you can make stuff–it is a place where you make meaning that can be just as important as the stuff you make.
How do makerspaces nurture learning?
Makerspaces give us opportunities to be creative and innovative as we build confidence and portfolios. We develop capacity in
- oral and written communication
- information literacy and digital fluency
- collaboration and leadership
- critical thinking and problem solving
- flexibility and adaptability
Educators use maker spaces to foster creativity, curiosity and imagination in a playful, atmosphere where multi-disciplinary learning, inquiry, risk-taking, thinking, crafting, tinkering, and wondering can flourish.
What happens at the AlphaPlus Educator Makerspace?
Each year we choose a theme and a technology that matches that theme.
- We start with a series of collaborative, online workshops where we learn the technology and explore its possibilities.
- Each participant chooses a project and is supported by the AlphaPlus facilitators and the makerspace cohort.
- We plan the number of meetings we need to share progress and get feedback.
- Each participant decides on the details of their project and their deadlines.
- We post our results (with your permission) in the Wayfinders Studio.
Explore the Wayfinders Studio to see what has been happening in the makerspace.
Makerspace 2023: Empowered Learning
In 2023, we worked with practitioners in a activity-creation makerspace. Our theme was Empowered Learning and our technology was Open Education Resources (OER) and H5P.
See more here: 2023: H5P and OER
Makerspace 2022: Empowered Practice
In 2022, we worked with practitioners in a digital-storytelling makerspace. Our theme was Empowered Practice and the technology was video production.
See more here: 2022: Digital StoryTelling
Wayfinders 2021: Reflections on practice
In 2021, AlphaPlus interviewed eight facilitators about how they applied their knowledge of content, pedagogy and technology to the pivot to remote learning.
See more here: The Pivot to Remote Learning
The Wayfinder’s experience is an ongoing mission, as part of a fun and motley crew, to discover what is important and what is needed in my work with adult learners. The chance to experiment with tools that can make a true difference in my practice. The opportunity to uncover, connect with, and share the stories of our teaching and learning.
Educator Makerspace participant
It is a guide or a map for processing your understanding, beliefs and ideas about educating and learning. It provides a flexible structure, plenty of resources or tools, and questions that inspire reflection about why you do what you do, and how you do it…..in some ways it is a means to creatively evaluate your own “process” and present it to others.
Educator Makerspace participant
I’m really grateful for the chance to participate in this program. It has definitely helped me feel less isolated as an educator, and more aware and a part of the professional literacy network across Ontario. Also, viewing this experience as an adult learner, this was one of the few times I have felt fully supported and accommodated in a learning project, based on my own needs, preferences, and life situation, which is hilariously ironic but a big factor in my enjoyment and the quality of my outcomes.
Educator Makerspace participant
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