New Collaborative Studio – MakerSpaces

The Digital Maker Collective are really pleased to be involved in the development of three new and exciting Collaborative Studio MakerSpaces at University of the Arts London, Camberwell, Chelsea & Wimbledon Colleges. The new makerspaces  spaces will be student centred and student- led spaces for collective and creative collaboration and to work on experimental ideas with new kit in new interdisciplinary learning environments. This funded Project is an early intervention in the Creating New Histories Strategy and the recent Pedagogic Review.

See attached: Getting Started with New Collaborative MakerSpace.docx  (158.78 KB)

The creation of these makerspaces and subsequent assessment of this model of learning will also allow us to rethink how we use studio and technical spaces and consider how the physical attributes of a space allow for interconnectivity and connectedness or create unhelpful territories and isolation.

We plan to work with the students on agreeing a framework and terms of reference for the spaces and the students of the Digital Maker Collective have already shown us what is possible.

As we set up the spaces over the next few weeks we hope that word of mouth will encourage students to come along and get involved. We already have a number involved from the students’ engagement sessions that David Crow held last academic year and we'll also be starting to run some Digital Maker Collective sessions in the spaces to start building student participation. We are not going to have a formal launch of these spaces because they need to grow slowly and organically to start with or they may be seen as another set of resources built by us and offered to students alongside our current technical offer. We want the students to set the pace on how these spaces develop.

Over the next few weeks we will be holding engagement sessions in the spaces for students so they understand how to get involved. 

All collaborators welcome