Abstract:

College campuses have experienced a new era of use and un-use within the built environment, and it goes without saying that past events and sudden changes to campus access have had large-scale impacts on teaching and learning and how it impacts the spaces we inhabit. As campuses faced closure, teachers and teaching assistants alike had to quickly reinvent their lesson plans and courses due to the limitations of virtual lectures, meetings, and office hours. For some, this task was more straightforward and the path to student success was clear. No matter what has been done, do the offerings reflect the goal of the department and more importantly impart the sense of place experience for introspective college studio work? When considering how to transform the Interior Architecture and Design program’s Furniture Design course, specifically a sub studio in itself, the idea of place identity became a driving force. This class revolves around the use of heavy machinery, computer-demanding software, and production of large-scaled tangible objects, and the task was more challenging. Interactive learning spaces and makerspaces, such as the furniture design lab, depend on equipment-rich environments and experiential-based teaching pedagogies. Makerspaces, and the education they provide, present a unique opportunity in the face of distance learning.

Place identity is a sub-structure of a person’s self-identity, and consists of knowledge and feelings developed through everyday experiences of physical spaces (Proshansky, Fabian, & Kaminoff, 1983). Place identity derives from the multiple ways in which place functions to provide a sense of belonging, construct meaning, and foster attachments. With this in mind, the goal of this presentation is to highlight strategies to blur the lines between the physical and virtual space through experiential graphics to enhance place identity.

This research will attempt to examine the impact of learning in a hybrid makerspace. It will look at different technologies and software used to virtually deliver the lesson plans to students and suggest strategies to mitigate student expectations. Further, the study will explore opportunities for teaching and learning in online environments and the challenges raised in such spaces that need to impart a sense of place. The ultimate goal of this study is to understand how virtual makerspaces give way to the same knowledge physical environments provide and how to utilize tools in order to stimulate student success. As we move into the future, it is unclear what shape higher education will take. I feel it is tremendously important to be prepared for whatever obstacles we as educators face in order to give students the best opportunities possible.

This proposal will begin with an in-depth look at the physical environment and how this can be interpreted into promoting a sense of place in the virtual world. Lesson plans and the course’s trajectory in order to provide a general understanding of the purpose, as well as creating a baseline for comparison of virtual-teaching scores. It will then discuss problem and purpose statements and evolve into an examination of software and ICT possibilities. Finally, it will look at data collection and the implementations of said software. Hopefully, this research will prove that virtual makerspaces in the time of limited face-to-face contact can be just as stimulating, collaborative, and interactive as physical makerspaces.

Keywords:

Technology, design, makerspace, creative process.