This talk was provided by Professor George Meadows of the University of Mary Washington during a NISO webinar on Makerspaces held on Wednesday, Dec 14, 2016

1. IsThere a Role for a Library-Based
Makerspace in a Liberal Arts
School?
George Meadows
Professor, College of Education
University of MaryWashington

2. The University of MaryWashington:
▪ “The University of MaryWashington is a public university inVirginia that focuses on
undergraduate education in the liberal arts and sciences.The core of its main campus of
roughly 4,000 mostly residential students in Fredericksburg,Virginia, is the College of
Arts and Sciences, which offers degrees in various liberal arts disciplines.” Wikipedia
▪ The University does have a College of Education and a College of Business but it is seen
and self-identified as primarily a Liberal Arts school.

3. The University of MaryWashington:Teaching
andTechnology
▪ The Division ofTeaching and LearningTechnologies (DTLT)
▪ “We help faculty develop skills with digital tools including, but not limited to, Domain of One’s Own,
Canvas, Knight Lab tools, UMW Blogs,GoogleApps,WordPress, Scholar’s Lab tools, and digital
media of all kinds.These tools, when integrated effectively and responsibly, can improve student
agency and enhance the learning environment/experience. DTLT is committed to working with
faculty and academic units in order to build the digital capacity and agency, not only of the students,
but of the faculty as well.”
Division ofTeaching and LearningTechnologies website
▪ DTLT also focuses on such concepts as Digital Pedagogy, Digital Identity, and the role played by
Social Media in teaching and learning.

4. TheThinkLab:A Library-based Makerspace at UMW
Planning
▪ As a Science Educator I had always been concerned about the problem of the “Missing E
(Engineering)” in STEM education. The appearance of the Next Generation Science Standards, with a
strong emphasis on the role of engineering in science education provided the needed motivation to
address that issue. I’d been reading a good bit about 3D printing and makerspaces and decided that
might provide a good context for bringing engineering into my science education classes.
▪ I shared some of these ideas withTim Owens, then an InstructionalTechnologist with the Division of
Teaching and LearningTechnologies, and we decided to develop a makerspace on campus.
▪ At that time, the University was looking for faculty who might want to develop and teach a Freshmen
Seminar course. These were to be low-enrollment classes that would provide an opportunity for first-
year students to work with faculty on specialized topics. Tim and I designed such a course, to be
called “Makerbots and Mashups”, to be taught in a makerspace and focus on building “things.” The
COE had recently purchased a MakerbotThingomatic kit (an early 3D printer.)
▪ Tim and I presented our ideas at the UMW Faculty Academy (Spring 2012.) The University Librarian,
Rosemary Arneson, was in the audience and enthusiastically offered not only her help in teaching the
course, but also a space in the Library for the proposed makerspace – theThinklab.

5. TheThinkLab:A Library-based Makerspace at UMW
Building
▪ TheThinkLab was developed as a collaborative effort by the College of Education,
the Simpson Library, and the Division ofTeaching and LearningTechnologies.
▪ COE (George Meadows) – 3D printers, scanners, tools, and materials
▪ Simpson Library (Rosemary Arneson) – room, furniture, shelves
▪ DTLT (Tim Owens) – tools, materials, whiteboard wall paint
▪ No budget - all funding came from the three collaborating groups.
▪ No course releases or release time for the three “directors.”

6. TheThinkLab

7. TheThinkLab:Tools and Materials
▪ 3D printers
▪ MakerbotThingomatic
▪ Makerbot Replicator
▪ Dremel
▪ 3D scanners
▪ Makerbot Digitizer
▪ Xbox Kinect
▪ Hummingbird Boards
▪ Arduinos

8. TheThinkLab:Tools and Materials
▪ Soldering Kits
▪ Circuit Components (LED’s, motors, sensors, wire)
▪ Basic hand tools (wrenches, saws, miter boxes, hammers, glue guns)
▪ “Stuff” (duct tape, zip ties, brads, rivets, string, rubber bands….)
▪ Building materials (cardboard, foamcore, acetate, plastic recyclables)
▪ Software
▪ 3D design software –Tinkercad, Meshmixer, Blender, SketchUp, ReconstructMe

9. TheThinkLab:A Library-based Makerspace at UMW
Initial Uses
▪ ThinkLab-based courses
▪ Freshmen Seminar (FSEM), Makerbots and Mashups – taught for six semesters, the course emphasized
learning and using makerspaces skills (3D design and printing, electronics and soldering, use of basic hand
tools, robotics, e-textiles.)
▪ HowThingsWork, an Interdisciplinary Sciences course. Course emphasis was using makerspace tools and
ideas to develop activities focused on environmental problems. Projects ranged from building
conductivity meters to designing and building floating wetlands.
▪ Courses usingThinkLab as needed
▪ Science Inquiry, an elementary Science Methods course. TheThinkLab was used for classes on engineering
and design process skills/activities
▪ Reconstructing Pompeii, a course in the Classics Department. TheThinklab was used for classes on 3D
design/printing/scanning of relevant artifacts and costumed students (goddess Nike, a Centurion)
▪ Introduction to Computer Science. This course usedThinkLab materials such asArduinos, soldering stations,
and circuit components as students developed physical computing devices.
▪ Theatre course. Students posed for 3D scans to demonstrate characters.

10. TheThinkLab:A Library-based Makerspace at UMW
Initial Uses
▪ Other
▪ Individual student projects. Students who had taken the FSEM course were allowed continued
access to theThinkLab and its tools and materials. Projects included:
▪ COSPLAY costumes
▪ Fashion Design
▪ Theatre set design
▪ Self-scans for holiday gifts
▪ E-textile projects such as LED dog collars and tiaras
▪ Jeans repair (using sewing machines)

11. ThinkLab Projects
Students working on
Reconstructing Pompeii
Class projects.
Student with Floating
Wetlands project.
Computer ScienceClass
Project –
Light/Temp/Humidity
Meter

12. Changes
▪ Makerbots and Mashups FSEM course was discontinued.The course was discontinued when
the University changed its emphasis for FirstYear Seminars to acquiring and developing
more Liberal Arts-related skills (research, writing, speaking.)
▪ Rosemary Arneson developed a new Digital Studies elective to replace the M&M course,
taught in theThinkLab, but demands on her time only allow it to be taught intermittently.
▪ Tim Owens left the University. His replacement at DTLT had a full schedule of other tasks,
more closely aligned with DTLT’s mission.
▪ Development of COE Makerspace provided new location for Education-related makerspace
courses and activities. Many of these activities and workshops are related to funding and
grants provided for K-12 makerspace activities and take up much of my (Meadows) time.
Many of the College of Arts and Sciences related projects that might have been centered in
theThinkLab are now taking place in the COE Makerspace.

13. Makerspaces at UMW
▪ ThinkLab
▪ Largely managed by UMW Librarian with some library staff support.
▪ Still used by some classes.
▪ College of Education Makerspace
▪ Managed by one faculty member, funded through grants, awards, and alumni donations
▪ Training site for COE students in use of makerspace materials, tools, and techniques. This reflects
growing number of K-12 makerspaces (many located in school libraries)
▪ Training site for K-12 teachers/staff in use of makerspaces
▪ Site for Makerspaces in Schools project, providing materials and support for K-12 school makerspaces
as well as makerspaces in local educational institutions (public libraries, environmental organizations,
juvenile detention centers.)
▪ Site for student projects for courses in Business, Biology,Classics (many linked to grants funding.)

14. ClosingThoughts
▪ A Library-based makerspace can be developed through efforts of individual
faculty and staff but should not become dependent on that situation. Faculty
and staff leave or assume new responsibilities.
▪ Need institutional recognition/support. I think this is especially important for smaller
schools where faculty and staff time is limited and funds are not always available.
▪ Need some way to convey idea that makerspaces provide great teaching opportunities for
LiberalArts as well as other areas such as the Sciences and Business.
▪ Need a regular stream of students (as was supplied by FSEM M&M course taught every
semester.) Many of the students who took the course returned to work on their own
projects and they often brought friends.
▪ A more focused, discipline-based makerspace may develop and flourish – but it
may do so at the expense of the Library-based makerspace.

15. ClosingThoughts
▪ New technology and new materials that can be used in makerspaces are
continuing to appear.
▪ New 3D printing filaments now allow desktop printing in filament that can be as much as
90% copper. Iron and Bronze filament are also available. I recently received a grant to
work with faculty in the Classics Department to investigate the use of 3D design and
printing in reproducing artifacts. Using metals for this rather than plastic provides for
much more authentic teaching tools.
▪ New 3D printing technology makes use of paste extruders to print intricate pottery and
sculpture using a clay slurry as the medium.
▪ New 3D scanners such as the Structure Sensor provide high quality, portable scanning.
This scanner attaches to an iPad. The file produced by this scanner can be 3D printed or
uploaded to a site such as SketchFab so that an animated, manipulatible object can be
embedded in a website. http://jamesmonroe3d.umwhistory.org/waistcoat-and-breeches/
▪ This provides a whole new way to think about what you can check out from the
library…