Maker Competencies and the Undergraduate Curriculum (IMLS #LG-97-17-0010-17) Final Performance Report
The list of maker-based competencies compiled in 2016 by UTA Libraries’ Maker Literacies Task Force provides a framework for assessing the learning that results when making and design thinking are integrated into curricula. The proof-of-concept pilot funded by this planning grant integrates these competencies into the curricula of a diverse selection of 17 undergraduate courses spread across five institutions.
The goal of the spring 2018 implementation was to answer three questions: 1) How well do our competencies map to disciplinary learning outcomes? 2) How accurately do they represent the transferable skills librarians and subject faculty expect to be acquired via making? and 3) What revisions would partners suggest to improve the beta competencies? From the conclusions of our study, we provide discussion of these questions and more in the Lessons Learned section of this report.
Before we could begin, we needed to select three additional partners with which to pilot our program. Over fall 2017 we developed a scoring rubric for ranking potential partners, and then visited the top five locations to further narrow them. We were looking for a good cross-section of academic library makerspaces, representing different campus and makerspace sizes, equipment availability, and student demographics. We achieved our goal when after rigorous review, Boise State, UMass Amherst and UNC Chapel Hill accepted our invitations to join UTA and UN Reno—our preexisting partner—to conduct this pilot.
Our primary audience—academic librarians and subject faculty—gained an understanding of how making and design thinking apply to their subject disciplines, and how to integrate makerspaces into their curricula. They collaborated in new and exciting ways, and learned more about curriculum design and measuring student learning. We measured our overall success by use of an exhaustive exit survey required by all librarian and subject faculty participants.
This final performance report includes a list of activities completed, links to project deliverables, explanations of variance from our original project plan, a discussion of lessons learned, and next steps for growing and sustaining the Maker Literacies program.