MAPPING YOUR MAKER EDUCATION PROGRAM
A RESOURCE BLUEPRINT
We have the unprecedented opportunity to re-create systems in education, systems we have to boldly reimagine.
ENVISIONING MAKER EDUCATION
If you’re here, you probably agree with us that young people are brilliant and hands-on learning is powerful and important. You’ve either built a makerspace, are building maker-oriented programming, or are in the process of thinking about new ways to bring making into your community. You are working to use making as a tool for equity.
Over our 8-years, the Maker Ed team has visited and worked with making programs of all sorts: urban, rural, massive, teeny, in schools, at museums, decades-old and brand-spanking new. We see maker-centered learning as a part of an educational movement for change that empowers youth. And it’s not just about shiny tools. Your making program will only be as good as the planning and visioning that sits at its foundation.
Visioning leverages your institution's values as a way to define the “why” behind making and the “how” to implement. What do you want your makerspace to do for your community?
This module contains a foundational set of tools for visioning and planning any sort of maker-oriented programming, space, or curriculum.
What is visioning
and why do we use it?
This visioning pack contains 6 modules:
​
1. Program Values 2. Stakeholder Mapping 3. Program Parts
4. Learning Practices 5. Measuring Impact 6. Telling your Story
OBJECTIVES
Aligns with your organization's values
Sets forward a realistic plan, based on prioritization
Engages with stakeholders
Include clear and cohesive programmatic elements
Aligns with your organization's values
This visioning pack is for folx who are working to integrate hands-on, learner-driven, equitable learning into their work. The activities we lead you through will support you if you are teaching 30 kids, providing professional development for other organizations, or setting up a making program at your library or museum.
WHO IS THIS FOR?
Reflecting on values, setting a vision, planning for the future – these all require the collaboration of your team and your community. Throughout the activities we will offer suggestions for ideal points to involve others.
WHO YOU'LL NEED
WHAT YOU'LL NEED
COLLABORATIVE VISIONING JOURNAL
shared with your colleagues who will be working on visioning​
VIRTUAL
Miro, Padlet, or Jamboard
PHYSICAL
whiteboard, post-its, chart paper, and markers
This icon indicates it's time to take notes in your Collaborative Visioning Journal. The Collaborative Visioning Journal is a place for you and your team to doucument your thoughts, notes and conversations, and refer back to throughout the process.
To start, make a copy of the journal and save it. As you work through the modules, and you are prompted to revisit the collaborative visioning journal, open and take notes in your saved journal.
Visioning is an iterative process. Although we present a series of activities in a sequence, the process is not linear. As you come to new realizations after completing an activity, those ideas should be applied to areas of the work you have already thought through. For example, if you realize that due to resourcing, you will need to focus your programming on the drop-in lunchtime making, you should return to thinking about how that impacts your stakeholders.
PROCESS
TIME TO COMPLETE
This set of visioning activities will take you and your team at least sixteen hours to work through. That said, to dive in deeply, involve your stakeholders, and iterate, this is a months long process, especially for organization-wide visioning.
What is the Collaborative Visioning Journal
and how do we use it?
VISIONING MODULES
1
OVERVIEW:
The first step on our visioning journey is to reflect on what hands-on, creative learning looks like in your organization and your community, and to think about the values that your organization holds when it comes to your maker-centered learning programs.
OBJECTIVES:
Identify the value maker-centered learning holds for learners in your program.
2
OVERVIEW:
Visioning provides a scaffold and centers the institution’s values as a way to define the “why” behind making and the “how” to implement. This section includes a foundational set of tools for visioning and planning any sort of maker-oriented programming, space, or curriculum.
OBJECTIVES:
You’ll gain a clear picture of why you value maker-centered learning and a defined vision of your goals, audience, and how you’ll know you’ve been successful in reaching your goals.
3
OVERVIEW:
Here we'll start to dig in and start planning – based on your programmatic values, stakeholder goals, the resources at your disposal, and your existing programs. You will zoom out and look at your program as a system and then zoom in and think about each of the parts of your program in detail.
OBJECTIVES:
Vsualize your current and ideal maker education programs and align existing parts of your program and plan new ones to create cohesion.
4
OVERVIEW:
In this section, we'll start to think about learning practices and learning indicators. By thinking about learning practices, we push ourselves beyond core content and skills into mindsets, dispositions, and pursuits.
OBJECTIVES:
Draw connections between & organize sets of learning practices and adopt or create a plan to adopt a set of learning practices for your program or organization.
​
5
OVERVIEW:
This section will guide you to assess the impact of your program. You will identify the goals of your program and outline ways you will collect data to help you understand and evaluate your program’s impact.
OBJECTIVES:
Connect the parts of your program that will help you achieve your goals. Create a plan for gathering data to measure the success of your program goals
6
OVERVIEW:
In this section we'll explore how to cultivate and share compelling stories that showcase your work and the benefits of maker-centered learning.
OBJECTIVES:
-
To create a culture of culture of storytelling grounded in power and joy and understand what tools and documentation practices support storytelling on an ongoing basis.