Understanding Equity of Access in Engineering Education Making Spaces

Idalis Villanueva Alarcón,Jana Bouwma-Gearhart,Chaz Tanoue,Robert Jamaal Downey,Louis Nadelson,Yoon Ha Choi

doi:10.3390/socsci10100384

Abstract

The goal of our exploratory study was to examine how management and staff in engineering education making spaces are enacting equitable access amongst their users (e.g., students). We examined six different making space types categorized by Wilczynsky’s and Hoover’s classification of academic makerspaces, which considered scope, accessibility, users, footprint (size), and management and staffing. We reviewed research memos and transcripts of interviews of university makerspace staff, student staff, and leaders/administrators during two separate visits to these places that took place between 2017 and 2019. We inductively and deductively coded the data, and the findings suggested that equity of access was situational and contextual. From the results, we identified four additional considerations needed to ensure equitable access for engineering education making spaces: (a) spaces designed and operated for multiple points of student entry; (b) spaces operated to facilitate effective student making processes and pathways; (c) threats to expanded access: burdens and consequences; and (d) elevating student membership and equity through a culture of belonging. Together, the findings point toward a need for developing a more nuanced understanding of the concept of access that far supersedes a flattened definition of access to just space, equipment, and cost.

Highlights

Makerspaces are commonly described as physical spaces where individuals come together to creatively make products and artifacts (Halverson and Sheridan 2014)
We identified four themes connecting to equity of access in engineering making spaces: (a) spaces designed and operated for multiple points of student entry; (b) spaces operated to facilitate effective student making processes and pathways; (c) threats to expanding access: burdens and consequences; and (d) elevating student membership and equity through a culture of belonging
We found that equity of access was situational and contextual and, as such, served to expand the existing definitions from Roldan and colleagues (2018) about access to include added considerations for: (a) spaces designed and operated for multiple points of student entry; (b) spaces operated to facilitate effective student making processes and pathways; (c) threats to expanded access: burdens and consequences; and (d) elevating student membership and equity through a culture of belonging

Summary

Introduction

Makerspaces are commonly described as physical spaces where individuals come together to creatively make products and artifacts (Halverson and Sheridan 2014). Collaborations between students occur through course activities (e.g., projects) that require the creation of products developed from tools and resources provided within these spaces (Lande et al 2013). For the purpose of this work, we will primarily use the term “making spaces” over makerspaces; this is connected to our prior work (Bouwma-Gearhart et al 2021; Nadelson et al 2019; Youmans et al 2018; Youmans et al 2019) situating a need for the purposes of a makerspace, which is to generate community-wide connections (academic and non-academic) versus making spaces that are disciplinary, have specified goals, and catered to a particular audience (i.e., engineering) to gain pre-established learning goals and skills (e.g., technical skills) (Youmans et al 2018; Youmans et al 2019)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion