Learning in the Making: Leveraging Technologies for Impact

February 24, 2014

Informal learning environments across the U.S., sometimes called “Makerspaces,” are community centers that offer tools and resources empowering people to design and prototype their inventions. With funding from the National science Foundation, Erica Halverson and colleagues are developing, and will test, an online critique and portfolio tool for young people participating in Makerspaces across the nation. When facilitators or peers engage in reflective critique of work, the making process is more sustained. It includes important design practices such as wider exploration of possibilities, revision, and iteration. Halverson and colleagues also will train mentors to use the critique and portfolio system at their Makerspace sites and will determine how the system impacts young makers’ learning, development, and self-efficacy.

More about Halverson’s work: http://ci.education.wisc.edu/ci/people/faculty/erica-halverson