The Impact of a University Makerspace on Engineering Students' Skills

Abstract

Makerspaces are venues for the exploration of personal fabrication technology, hands-on learning, and collaboration. The Red Room at the American University of Beirut (AUB) is an example of a university makerspaces, where making and prototyping equipment are made available to students. Since its opening in the spring of 2019, the Red Room has followed a student-operated management style, with over forty-five undergraduate engineering students having been recruited as members of the managing team, which we refer to as Junior Engineering Design Innovators, or JEDIs for short. The purpose of this thesis is to present the JEDIs’ perceptions of this unique experience and its impact on their development as engineers. Results reveal that working in the makerspace improves JEDI's self-efficacy in engineering design as well as in transferable skills such as problem-solving and communication. Membership to the makerspace is shown to be a situated learning experience that prepares JEDIs for their career in engineering. This thesis is unique in that it considers student-staff of university makerspaces in isolation from other users of such makerspaces, thus emphasizing the value of implementing such a staffing model.