Innovation Grant Application

2013–2014

Innovation Lab [Makerspace @ SPC]

Employee Name: Chad Mairn
Phone: (727) 394–6917
Department: Learning Resources
Email: mairn.chad@spcollege.edu
Campus: Seminole
Proposed Project Name: Innovation Lab [Makerspace @ SPC]
Funds Requested: $3,500

1. Please describe your project, including how it is innovative. (300 word maximum)

Libraries are more than a storage house for books; they are friendly places for discovery! Do it yourself (DIY) culture has permeated into libraries giving people of all ages a chance to create interesting things. These collaborative learning environments, sometimes called makerspaces, are spaces where people with common interests (e.g., computers, technology, science, and/or digital arts) can meet, socialize and/or collaborate while sharing innovative ideas and learning new skills. True innovation happens when people have a variety of tools to play with and have an ultimate goal to create and share useful things. This Technology Makerspace Lab will be alive with innovators from multiple disciplines who believe in the mantra that true learning happens when people have a variety of options and solutions to turn to when creating something new and/or utilizing critical/real-world problem solving skills when something isn’t working as planned.

2. Explain how your project supports institutional goals and enhances student success.

1. A learning space for people to create things and knowledge across multiple disciplines and interests.

2. Participatory learning and meaningful playing will allow people to be engaged and share ownership of the lab. I know several students, college clubs, faculty, and other people who are doing innovative things already. This lab would be a great space to showcase those skills!

3. Community learning and sharing will build academic relationships and connections with others.

4. The lab will be a place of discovery and inquiry and artistic expression will be very important to it’s success.

5. Allowing people to be innovative and to also make mistakes will support and enhance SPC’s mission for lifelong learning!

6. Innovation is the embodiment, combination, and/or synthesis of knowledge. An open lab/play environment will give people a space to discover new and exciting things on their own. People remember things that they discover on their own (i.e., not by being told directly).

7. Interaction will allow people to learn and grow together! Many technology makerspace labs have made things like touchscreen monitors/smart tables that can be used in the library or within their institution.

3. Provide 3–5 program goals.

1. Include a 3D printer with open source design software so people can design things in software and then have those objects become a reality.

2. Hardware lab to include a Raspberry Pi, Adruino, and other electronic circuit board kits so people can create something never seen before! (Chad Mairn has a Raspberry Pi that he will donate to this project!) A software lab will also be included with music/art/design/game development creation software.

3. Continuously bringing new and innovative technologies into the lab will keep it alive and relevant well into the future. Having a space for people to innovate on a multitude of levels will make this project flourish because there will not be one specific innovative project in the works; there will be several!

4. Showcase people’s innovative skills that they are already doing. The lab will provide other opportunities to take existing ideas and make them even better— basically the definition of true innovation.

5. Faculty collaboration on innovative projects will increase faculty-student engagement across disciplines and promote participatory learning.

4. Describe how outcomes will be measured.

Participants will be encouraged to keep a physical project notebook to include sketches, diagrams, and to basically capture inspiring things they want to revisit later. Notebook highlights can be digitized and shared online via the blog (See other note below). Also, frequent surveys will be sent out to participants to determine if the lab is meeting their standards and to ask for constructive feedback. A blog or some kind of web presence will be included in order to share innovative ideas that have been constructed within SPC’s Technology Makerspace Lab. The blog will be built using WordPress and will be open so that people can add their own posts outlining their project details etc. I will be the blog administrator and will moderate the content. A Facebook page will also be considered so people not directly working with SPC’s Technology Makerspace Lab will be able to see what is happening there. Invited speakers and volunteers who have created something either within the lab or outside it will share their ideas in forums/workshops open to everyone.

5. Please provide a detailed program budget. (Reminder: No portion of the grant can be used for stipend/supplemental income to SPC employees and/or students.) Contact mairn.chad@spcollege.edu with questions.

• FreeFab3D Monolith 3D Printer built locally using other 3D printers
• littleBits Synth Kit
• Arduino Genuine Mega 2560 Circuit Board Experimentation Kit
• Avid Fast Track Duo Audio Interface with Pro Tools Express
• An iMac, 2 Linux computers, and 1 Windows computer
• A variety of Open Source Software applications for 3D printing, design etc.
• MaKey MaKey: Original Invention Kit
• Cubelets KT06 Kit
• ProtoSnap LilyPad Development Board
• 2 CanaKit Raspberry Pi Ultimate Starter Kits
• Apollo Precision Tools 53-Piece Tool Kit
• Parallax Programmable Boe-Bot Robot Kit
• Elenco Deluxe Learn To Solder Kit
• Samsung 32-Inch 1080p LED HDTV
• Logitech TV Cam HD for Skype Calls
• Atari 1040ST computer running Notator music software
• Kinect
• Reference Collection including books and magazines

Note: A formal request to SPC and other possible donors could add additional software/hardware for the lab making it truly a community effort! Plus, interested participants will bring in their own technologies/ideas to share with the group. I see this lab becoming a fruitful “Think Tank” giving people of various disciplines and skill sets an opportunity to create innovative projects! {A few SPC departments and outside makerspace managers have already expressed interest in participating in the SPC Makerspace Lab!}

6. Provide the projected timeline of the program.

· Early 2013- The Seminole Community Library board extended an interest in creating a Technology Makerspace Lab

· January 2014- meet with library leaders, Learning Resources Director, campus Provost, and student volunteers to find a conducive space for a Technology Makerspace Lab.

· February 2014- purchase equipment.

· March 2014- assemble the equipment and organize the lab.

· April 2014- promote the Technology Makerspace Lab and setup a meeting schedule (probably every other week).

7. Describe the short-term and long-term benefits you hope to achieve through this project.

The short-term benefit would be providing more visibility to current SPC students and faculty and will show that SPC is on the cutting edge of technology by allowing people to create the future. This process IS the definition of” innovation.” As the Technology Makerspace Lab grows it will become an exciting collaborative learning environment where people with common interests will meet, socialize and collaborate while sharing innovative ideas all while learning new skills that they can take with them anywhere in life. Also, I would like the lab to be open to the public which would bring in some amazing skill sets allowing SPC students and others to learn from true experts. This lab can also become a recruiting tool to bring new students to SPC.

I have discussed this program with my Dean or Administrative Management. He/She has agreed to be the budget supervisor if I am awarded this grant. As budget supervisor, he/she will provide oversight and administer the grant.