2017/09/18 Appalachian Makerspaces Meetup Follow-up

Hello and thank you for attending this month’s Remake Learning Meetup: Appalachian Makerspaces!

Special thank you to Lou Karas for going well out of her way to provide us with space and lunch! I’d also like to send appreciation to Chip and Katie from the Children’s Museum. And huge love for all of you that traveled so far to be with us! Don’t forget to follow-up if you have questions or would like to know more about how to connect with the Remake Learning Network.

In Case You Missed It

This was a very special Meetup! To ensure that we had enough time to hear from everyone in the room, particularly those that traveled up-to five hours to attend, we extended the regular Meetup agenda from an hour and a half to four hours. Thank you for investing your precious time with us!

We began the day working around the room, hearing from CREATE Lab Satellite Network; Districts thinking about taking their students from Make to Manufacturing; and a fledgling Learning Farm in Ohio — and that’s only a fraction of the work represented.

For those of you new to Remake Learning Meetups, you will find comprehensive documentation of my minutes below my signature in this email.

We “popcorned” around the room identifying interest areas and pain-points:

• Zero-to-Maker (a mix of high-tech, low-tech, and no-tech)
• Making for Social-Emotional-Skills
• Make-to-Manufacturing
• Making in geographic isolation
• Trouble connecting with the community
• FabLabs
• Workforce Development
• Student-Centered Learning
• PR and Marketing your space (awareness building and funding)
• State, government, and industry influence
• Hub-and-Spoke support systems

Specific events coming up:

If I missed something, email me so I can share-out with this group. You can also add your event to the Remake Learning Calendar: remakelearning.org/calendar.

• Context Conference October 2–4
• West Virginia Makes Festival October 6
• Maker Faire Pittsburgh October 14 & 15
• If you don’t already, I recommend following the Education Alliance WV Maker Newsletter (I’ll send this week’s letter after this email!)

After Lunch

We transitioned to the Principles of Practice game led by the Children’s Museum. Everyone should have received a deck of cards to take home with you (remember, that advanced piece of technology that was developed in partnership with CMU? ;) ).

These cards provide a simple process to think deeply how to engage learners in a variety of “type” from the “lifeguard” to the “template-bound.” A Cards-Against-Humanity for Maker-Educators, we were able to move very quickly into a space to contemplate the importance of adjusting our facilitation to build confidence for all learners.

AND THEN…

We were honored by Lou to get a special look at her Maker-Educator Facilities at West Liberty. An advanced space that is transforming not only pre-service teaching for modern pedagogy, but also advancing the student-culture at WLU! “I’m always struck that I am told again and again that this is a safe space.” Thank you, Lou!

Remember, you’ll find all the notes at the end of this email!

Upcoming Remake Learning Events​

• ​Save the Date: The Annual Remake Learning Network Assembly is December 1st. Details will be announced through the Remake Learning Weekly Newsletter and Social Media @RemakeLearning

Upcoming Meetups and Lunch & Learns for the rest of 2017 will be posted via the Remake Learning Network’s weekly e-blast and calendar.

• October 9: Lunch & Learn: Culturally Responsive Curriculum with Dr. Gretchen Generett
• October 24: Meetup: Designing Learning Spaces with Yael Silk at the STEAM Showcase in Nova Place
• Later in November:
• Lunch & Learn: School and Industry Partnerships with McGuffey School District
• Meetup: Aquaponics from Around the Region: A tour of the McGuffey High School

​Get Involved

If this was your first Remake Learning event, please reply to this email because I would love to learn more about what is relevant, engaging, and equitable to you!

Add yourself or your organization to the Remake Learning Network Directory. Just find the button in the top right corner of the screen and “Add.”

Want to host a Meetup or a Lunch & Learn? You can use this helpful Meetup Guide to help you recruit attendees, organize the agenda, and more.

Share, Tweet, & Repeat! Social Media helps us stay in touch and share the wealth. You can find us & other Meetup members by using @remakelearning #RemakeLearning

​

Thank you for coming and I hope to see you soon!

—

Ani Martinez

Community Manager

Remake Learning Network

remakelearning.org

Twitter/@theAniMartinez

Unedited Meeting Minutes:

• Boys and girls club Parkersburg, WV- new makerspace
• 3D printers, cnc milling, etc “all the fun tools”
• Working with kids to do the basic hands-on arts programing
• Through guitar, digital music making, traditional technology programs
• Hands-on making and interfacing
• They work with 11,000 annually (about 100–200 kids)
• Part of a bigger ecosystem working together of the BGC
• Board of directors decided they wanted to be a leader in STEAM/STEM and to bring the best practices
• Who else is working in an environment that is far away from any other Makerspace?
• Anonymous donation to the college
• Growing pains of the college to get accustomed to the makerspace
• Open 24 hours to members
• But it’s totally knew — but
• Zanesville (hour away from Columbus)
• 2,000 students
• The space itself has been open since February of 16
• Who else is having trouble connecting with their community?
• COnverted a bank building to a maker vault
• Associated with Marshall University, but students are not finding them
• Open 7–5 so the hours are not working well
• WV Makes Festival October 6- 600 students are already registered, but you can still sign up to be a Maker
• Reaching out to the community: IU1 has a digital fabrication lab; and they are opening a new one (the current one is in Fayette County)
• One of things they have struggled with is what it means, “people think it means FABULOUS”
• They started to run community nights;
• Having open school nights
• Participating in Remake Learning Days
• The County Faires
• Handing out flyers to parents
• They also have their mobile lab and these sessions are filling up really fast and they are funneling people to the stationary lab
• The Mobile Labs hold exactly what the stationary labs hold
• What does “Out in the Community” mean? Taking the student work out into the evening that are open to the public on college campuses
• Things like the Washington Faire they take a trailer and you can adjust the set-up as needed
• Chamber of Commerce Events
• When you go out and about, what kind of attendance do you see?
• Given that it’s funded, there is a very minimal cost for participants
• They have about 18 computers, so they limit to that, but they always fill and another 7–9 in the stationary lab
• The Makerspace at WLU is Making for Education, officially 5 years in January
• Started with support from Bennedum; Appalachian Education Initiative- a statewide org that supports arts ed in WV, affiliate with the Kennedy Centers For Ed (no longer exists)
• They are also the 2nd Satellite of the CREATE Lab from CMU
• One of the 5 sites of the Children’s Museum to take the practices of MAKESHOP into non CMP sites
• THey took the Business office on Campus and turned it into a Making and Education resource center
• The school serves about 2,000 students
• Provides PD to over 30 pre-K-12 schools and pre-service teachers
• A mix of high-tech, low-tech, and no-tech
• IU1 Didn’t start with a FabLab- a 1960s elementary that was focused on the low-no-tech
• Partnered with CREATE Lab to provide access to the tool lab; so they have a resource lending library (Hummingbird Kits, Gigabit, and ipads, laptops, google cardboard, etc) so WLU is able to lend to a teacher to use these tools in their classrooms
• They have everything from scissors and buttons to the computers
• On a quiet day they might have 20 students, a busy day sees 100 +
• Faculty have also been using it as a resource, like the Chem Lab will come in to soldier
• Schools will also bring children; Future Cities Teams to explore materials, tools, etc
• Other schools might come with the entire 5th grade. It’s a chance to get into the Makerspace
• It’s also a great opportunity to get children onto a college campus at a young age
• Lou is full time and two 20 hour/week graduate students
• Weekday evenings there are also undergrad staffers
• Just letting people know the space is really important
• Chip: High-tech, low-tech, no-tech agnostic
• Fairly large in the landscape of Children’s Museums
• 300,000 + people last year
• MAKESHOP is a little different than most permanent exhibitions
• It’s focused on the believe that technology is anything that was invented after you were born. For children, an ipad isn’t technology, it’s just stuff of the world
• Alot of times they are using very old technologies like a loom to learn about highly complex mathematical concepts
• The thing that makes CMP work is their partnerships like CMU and University if Pittsburgh
• They help us grok these concepts to both the public and into an academic setting
• It’s not solely about content or skills — you learn something fundamentally very powerful
• We use these partnerships to think about “What is fundamental to making?”
• This shapes how CMP approaches the work and the work with their partners
• “Siren call” for makerspaces — just asking people why can really set people up with a difficult question
• “We ask ourselves that question all the time, so it helps us very articulate about that question”
• Student-centered, hands-on, divergent in outcomes
• Support from national government work to ask these questions and help other institutions ask these questions
• Looking to expand that to other places and other regions
• “Our job is zero to make, rather than the Make to Manufacture”
• Worked with several places and schools, and we love to help people start to wrestle with these conversations
• Maker Faire is coming up at CMP OCtober 13–15
• The call for makers is open until the 23rd
• All makers are welcome!
• On Articulating what a space looks like: Districts working with IU1 and started at the elementary school
• With the support of Chevron they’ve been able to work with the middle and high school
• They have all sorts of CTE programs with mechanics — CTE was worried about what the impact would be on their programs
• Even the state wanted to know what curriculum would be used — and it was very difficult for their counselors to advise students on what they would be doing during their courses
• Even in our first year, they are anticipating these programs will max out
• And now the CTE Programs are no longer threatened and see it as an opportunity for collaboration
• They’ve blossomed in their relationships
• PR is also essential! How do we prove these concepts to the state dept?
• Social Campaigns on Social Media
• They serve 1200 kids in the community, a huge staff, and the more people that we show the space to, it begins to advertise for itself
• “Without the dual support of IU1 and Chevron, I’m not sure we would have been set-up for the success that we are experiencing”
• Cross-curricular work is vital, too. The english teacher became the Maker educator
• All 400 students have been through the makerspace at the middle school. So now that they go into high school they want to take those courses.
• ANd that culture feeds into the other schools and surrounding districts
• Project Lead the Way: National Nonprofit Ed Program.
• K-12 curriculum; launches at k5; middle school is the gateway program which focuses more on career; and high school gets into specific fields (ie aerospace or engineering)
• It’s project-based curriculum
• Chevron funds this nationally
• Since 2013 they have funded 90 programs in the tri-state area
• They’ve expanded the opportunity for the career-tech space
• And now they are merging into the PBL standards of the state
• With many CTE programs, they only take certain students. With Project Lead the Way they are able to include a whole new group of students
• AP Meets CTE
• You can check out more at the Project Lead the Way Website
• They now have companies from local businesses to partner with the schools.
• The FabLab opens the door for all students
• The Children’s Museum of WV — our focus really is the out of school time folks; typically the museum works with children ages 2–10; but there are gaps in services.
• So we like to take the A of STEAM and use that to focus on emotional intelligence; they are going to combine this with a Girls Who Code project
• 21st Century is currently funded at 0
• So they want to partner with local schools
• They are located at 10th and Main
• Also have a space in Moundsville
• Children’s Solutions: Contracted through the Department of Children’s Services
• Recently they’ve partnered with the …
• They are reopening a facility to include childcare, facilities, and a makerspace
• Adults are so much better able to bond between parent and child through the Makerspace
• We want to put supports up for our families
• Lou, “Stella is a great example of someone being persistent”
• She was a graduate student, so this was her dream
• Two of the undergrad classes will be working with stella as a project of the students to give her support to get going
• Also with the children’s museum to get going
• I truly believe it wouldn’t exist without partnerships
• Orgs that are able to bring stuff and resources and expertise
• When we talk about OST, talking about what’s happening in the school day is so important. What do we do with these spaces when schools not in session?
• Students are clamoring to get into these spaces just to make stuff
• But how do we staff that?
• So what’s the next piece?
• Dror: We always talk about the WHY at CREATE Lab;
• We talk about this all the time
• I do think that more than any PR you can do, if you attach the why to what individuals want to do, they will show up
• We also heard, “I am a Maker” but first, “I am a parent” or “I’m an advocate for clean water”
• CREATE Lab also has a lending library
• “When I was a kid, it was a computer lab, but now that is ridiculous”
• I think Makerspaces will be the same — the why is hidden in the context
• So why aren’t we pushing
• At CREATE we look at what is a meaningful role of technology and data.
• Now we are focused on tech/data fluency compared to technology literacy
• Literacy is looking at the skills and capacity; but the fluency is the ability to engage deeply and communicate it back to it directly.
• There is also a branch of environmental monitoring; this grew into a big data branch of the work
• CONTEXT Conference is coming up October 2–4 all about tech and data fluency — at this conference they will be asking the why questions for educators and admin
• Jenn Gooch; I’ve been an arts educator for quite awhile, and I got a good kickstart through Techshop which is currently in flux
• She was hired as a textile instructor, and the work with Techshop catlyzed working with diverse groups from Startable to Vets and creating symbiotic relationship with her practice as a business and higher technologies
• “There’s nothing that beats seeing a parent when they realize that their children make $200 in a night after working through a small business”
• Matt and Jenn are starting a learning farm just 30 miles from here
• She started with adult education — and we are inspired helping adults as well as young people think about how to make a living
• Just outside St. Clairesville
• Resources:
• Eden Hall (Chatham)
• LeeAnne: Even though I’m a funder, I’m always a parent first
• I sympathize with the PR part of this work; and I never thought of my dad as a maker even though he welded me a basketball hoop
• Every parent wants their child to do better than they did
• These spaces that might look disconnected are actually rich in pathways to these STEAM Careers
• If there’s a way that a learning farm can partner to think about entrepreneurship
• Lights Programs which is an ARC partnerships; WV, Northern Kentucky and more
• Economic Development through Product development
• We help people that want to make a new product on a whole scale
• Core team of three that travels 28 counties
• Bulk of the funding goes to building spaces
• Zane State College is the first hub/makerspace and now we are building out the spokes
• Note: Define Hub and Spoke: a central place in which activities and resources emanate out of
• How might a program like this support all these different programs?
• It’s obviously case-by-case, but we can do some light consulting;
• Stratgyzer tools (Clients go through these to make sure they are setting themselves up for success)
• There’s also a small set of dollars to help with the implementation of prototypes
• From the BGC Perspective, a lot of the kids we work with don’t have a family support so that’s why they come to the BGC
• Alot of what gets the BGC kids excited is the possibility of the career pathways. The CTE programs in their area are restrictive, so the BGC is providing an alternative pathway to employment
• These early interventions are preparing kids much better when their families don’t have the resources do this work for them
• One of our struggles is that all of our kids are at school during the day. But what’s the sustainability model during the daytime? What are partnerships with the schools?
• On the county level we work through Chevron — individuals secure the majority of this funding
• This goes through the state department and a funder
• Regional Ed Service Agencies are now eliminated
• Lots of this funding goes through Title 1 and Title 2; there’s also Step 7 that can flex funding to support this work
• With RESA going away does this streamline this?
• With them going away, districts are better able to do this work themselves
• Now, this is dependent upon the wealth of the county
• The Education Alliance is another great resource
• Hearing a strong desire for this kind of collaboration
• Just like every IUs, there’s going to be differences and levels of involvement
• There’s an event going on next Monday that the Penguins Foundation is throwing