TY - JOUR
T1 - iMakerSpace Best Practices for Shaping the 21st Century Workforce
AU - Fidan, Ismail
AU - Canfield, Stephen
AU - Motevalli, Vahid
AU - Chitiyo, George
AU - Mohammadizadeh, Mahdi
N1 - Funding Information:
The MS at Tennessee Tech is located in the university library and is known as iMakerSpace. It is a university-wide, student-centered space supported by the College of Engineering with ongoing support from, and collaboration with, the College of Business. The iMakerSpace serves as a focal point on campus to provide cutting-edge education, service, partnership, research, and Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) activities for all disciplines. iMakerSpace encourages interdisciplinary teams and provides support and education to extend I&E activities into research and the classroom. The iMakerSpace occupies a 2000+ square foot collaborative and fabrication space.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors.
PY - 2021/6
Y1 - 2021/6
N2 - Innovations in engineering education are undergoing a noticeable transformation. Higher education institutions are practicing distance education, remote laboratories, studio pedagogies and several other approaches in order to increase their students’ retention, success, and preparedness for the job market. In engineering education, maker spaces have become popular in the last ten years in universities as well as community colleges, high schools and community innovation hubs. A large number of engineering colleges have allocated significant spaces, and at some universities entire buildings, as maker spaces to be used for curricular and extracurricular activities. Success stories of these types of spaces are well documented. This paper describes the core activities and programs held at Tennessee Tech University’s maker space called ‘iMakerSpace.’ Accomplishments include several innovative workforce development activities. The impact and effectiveness of the iMakerSpace, presented through workforce innovations and survey statistics, is a unique contribution to this paper. In addition, the modification of operations under COVID-19 pandemic restrictions has resulted in changes that may be carried out post-pandemic.
AB - Innovations in engineering education are undergoing a noticeable transformation. Higher education institutions are practicing distance education, remote laboratories, studio pedagogies and several other approaches in order to increase their students’ retention, success, and preparedness for the job market. In engineering education, maker spaces have become popular in the last ten years in universities as well as community colleges, high schools and community innovation hubs. A large number of engineering colleges have allocated significant spaces, and at some universities entire buildings, as maker spaces to be used for curricular and extracurricular activities. Success stories of these types of spaces are well documented. This paper describes the core activities and programs held at Tennessee Tech University’s maker space called ‘iMakerSpace.’ Accomplishments include several innovative workforce development activities. The impact and effectiveness of the iMakerSpace, presented through workforce innovations and survey statistics, is a unique contribution to this paper. In addition, the modification of operations under COVID-19 pandemic restrictions has resulted in changes that may be carried out post-pandemic.
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U2 - 10.3390/technologies9020032
DO - 10.3390/technologies9020032
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85123685119
SN - 2227-7080
VL - 9
JO - Technologies
JF - Technologies
IS - 2
M1 - 32
ER -