Makerspaces on Campus

Radford University in Radford, VA, has developed an ecosystem of MakerSpaces to empower faculty and students create the objects of their imagination. Spaces available include:

  • The Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning (CITL) New Media Center
    THE CITL represents a base of operations for the convergence of media, design, making, outreach, innovation, research, and creativity-driven teaching and learning.
  • The Department of Design Make Lab
    The Design Makerspace was built to give design students an outlet to realize creative ideas in physical form. The spaces and equipment are used primarily by students in interior design, fashion design, merchandising, and design management.
  • The Peery Makerspace
    The Peery Makerspace grew out of a crossdisciplinary faculty Maker movement, and is an anchor for the university’s Makers living-learning community. Faculty from the Colleges of Visual and Performing Arts, Science and Technology, and Business and Economics are the leaders in this initiative.

In California, California Community College (CCC) makerspaces are creating and sharing a model to fuel job creation and strengthen regional economies. With the CCC Maker Initiative, the goal is to prepare students for STEM/STEAM careers. California Community Colleges are building makerspaces, faculty are embedding making into curriculum, and employers are providing internships. The CCC Maker Initiative is funded by the California Community College Chancellor’s Office, Workforce and Economic Division under the Doing What Matters for Jobs and the Economy framework.

This article originally appeared in the College Planning & Management October 2019 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • FGCU Breaks Ground on New Health Sciences Building

    Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) has launched construction on a major new academic facility that leaders say will reshape healthcare education in Southwest Florida for decades to come, according to university news.

  • Cleveland High School Breaks Ground on Modernization

    Portland Public Schools in Portland, Ore., recently announced that construction has begun on a modernization project for Cleveland High School, according to a news release. The existing building will be replaced with a new, 300,000-square-foot facility at the same site.

  • abstract illustration of school gym

    How the Gymnasium Can Serve as a Model for Learning Space Design

    Multipurpose gyms work because flexibility was built into the brief from the start, not retrofitted later. The same logic applies to academic spaces.

  • Chicago District Completes Construction on New Elementary School

    North Chicago School District 187 in North Chicago, Ill., recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Forrestal Elementary School, according to a news release. The new school marks a major investment in military-connected students and families at Naval Station Great Lakes.