Mudd Talks: Measuring a Makerspace - How to See a Makerspace in Action

Makerspaces are popular in institutes of higher learning for good reason: they provide access to voluntary, hands-on learning experiences that can improve student self-efficacy, belonging and technical skills. Harvey Mudd's makerspace is even better situated to benefit the College because it provides opportunities for 5C collaboration and blending liberal arts and technology, which serve the College mission. But how do we know that the Makerspace is providing these benefits?

Matthew Spencer is an associate professor of engineering at Harvey Mudd College, where he teaches about electrical engineering and directs Harvey Mudd's makerspace. His engineering education research has won multiple best-in-division paper awards at the American Society of Engineering Education annual conference, and he was a past winner of the Outstanding Technology Directions paper from the International Solid State Circuits Conference and an Intel Research Fellowship. In addition to showing off all the latest and greatest making facilities at Mudd, Spencer will review empirical makerspace literature and discuss some preliminary data coming from studies of the Harvey Mudd makerspace.