School of Public Policy 597M - ST- MakerspaceLeadership&Outr

In this class UMass students have the opportunity to identify and work on a problem or project that they are (1) interested and passionate about, (2) potentially can be worked on across multiple semesters, and (3) is in an interdisciplinary social, "maker culture" environment. The "Maker culture" emphasizes learning through doing-it-yourself, or doing-it-together, in a social environment and utilizing open access licensed materials available on the Internet. In traditional (non-pandemic) semesters, the class meets in the UMass All Campus Makerspace -- a physical location where people gather to share resources and knowledge, socialize, and work on projects. But in this pandemic, online semester, some traditional making activities such as woodworking in a shared woodshop, are not possible. But "digital making" opportunities -- such as programming, digital art, prototyping using low-cost tools and materials at one's home, and even social science or policy analysis -- can potentially flourish. With some creativity, the most important aspects of the makerspace can be brought online -- and in this class that's what we, instructors and students together, will strive to do. In a nutshell, here?s how the course operates. At the outset, the co-instructors introduce some "maker fundamentals" and some project possibilities. After that, students choose a project that (1) the student proposes themselves and is personally interested in and is passionate about, or (2) is already underway, or (3) is a project being proposed by the faculty facilitators. In the latter two options, many projects fall under the "sustainability" label that will be aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and, in some cases, are connected to the UMass Sustainability efforts. Throughout the experience, students will gain exposure to maker culture, open scholarship, concepts around intellectual property, open data practices and access, and will have the opportunity to publish and share their work at the global level if they desire.

3rd floor Digital Media Lab in the library