A Virtual Design Studio for "Making"

• In Event: Making the Future: Addressing Critiques, Transitions, and New Challenges in Maker Education

Abstract

Objective: The maker movement encourages students to connect and provides opportunities for participatory learning. This study investigated two fully online asynchronous studio-based courses hosted in a virtual learning environment to support making activities. In this virtual space, through online connectivity and expert and peer support, students successfully produced and shared digital artifacts. The goal of this study was to explore how to apply concepts and strategies of making practices to an online studio-based course; the course curriculum was set up to engage students in active hands-on creative problem-solving activities and collaborative learning experiences.

Perspective: The virtual learning environment was delivered via eLearning Management System (ELMS) Learning Network, a custom-built virtual design studio (VDS). This VDS supported public viewing of artifacts commenting around in-progress and final works, which helped to engage the students at a distance. Inspired by makerspace design, this tool supported maker culture by allowing students to not only post ideas and comments (text format) but also share artifacts as prompts for conversation (images and video). For each project, students followed a process of ‘propose–critique–iterate,’ in which they provided feedback to help refine the artifact (Brocato, 2009, p. 179) for final production. This study focused on the critique process, which ensured students were communicating and collaborating during the design and artifact production process.

Methods & Results: The study involved two courses in the digital arts. There were 17 participants aged 18 to 44. Participants found this to be a valuable experience; they were able to make, share, and participate in a collaborative making and learning experience. The asynchronous nature of the course allowed for flexibility and reflective practice (Schön,1987), essential to a studio learning environment. Students were able to share, provide feedback to peers, and support one another to progressively iterate toward a solution-- key ideas in the maker movement (Vossoughi, 2013).

The design of the VDS aided in artifact development and sharing by collecting artifacts and student feedback. The design strategies and tools utilized helped to support students with artifact sharing and initiate feedback from a virtual community of makers and mentors. The prompts and multiple design phases encouraged students to collaborate with their peers; students could stop at multiple points during the making process to gain feedback and ask questions.

When analyzing student feedback, we documented evidence of students engaging in troubleshooting and problem solving, as well as project completion or success. These are concepts involved in making help to develop the necessary skills for a sense of creative literacy, by which they can take an idea from conception to creation.

Significance: The implications of VDS that support making practices are becoming more feasible across all education levels, especially in formal learning environments. In higher education, there is considerable growth in virtual classes that serve non-traditional students who are not physically sited. The strategies are replicable by faculty in other online programs who would like to focus on development and sharing of artifacts in a responsive community of learner and mentors.

Authors

• Jessica Briskin, Bloomsburg University

• Susan M. Land, The Pennsylvania State University