Email Responses From Collaborators
These are the discussions that have been going on via email. There are a few phone conversations as well, but those are not transcribed here.
Dale Dougherty - O'Reilly Media, Maker Faire, Make Magazine, Craft Magazine
I like having a focus on educators. I'm not sure how to do it. Connecting people who are already doing something seems more powerful than trying to do lots of outreach to people who don't get it. One thing also to consider is that this might be a separate effort done as a kind of summit in the Boston area.
That said, I've been thinking about organizing talks at Maker Faire that have an education theme. Some areas of interest to me:
1) Using Make projects or similar things in a classroom or afterschool setting.
2) Getting parents and children working together on projects
3) Generally, the benefits of hands-on, project-oriented approaches to learning in and outside the classroom.
4) The view that parents may need to think of science and engineering education the way they'd think about art and music -- that is, you have to find ways to supplement the inadequate amount of education your child will receive in school.
5) Community-based solutions like Fab Labs (or shops in general) that offer a way to learn 21st C. design and fabrication skills.
We could have an area at Maker Faire for parents and educators but I'm not sure how to organize it.
Dale
Max Marmer - Youth Action Research Network
I like the vision. " My focus is on education, teaching and learning and creating valuable learning experiences that are full of fun. I would like to find a way to connect with other teachers and students so that we can have more of a community on how to excite people about learning meaningful things on a global scale. Scaleability and repeatability of learning systems is important to me." I see a lot of parallels to what I'm trying to start with the Youth Action Research Network. Are you doing anything for the Maker Faire in the Bay Area? I'd be interested to see how I might get involved
Max
Response to above:
The Bay Area Maker Faire is a possibility, but the Austin event is closer, so that's where I want to focus my attentions. Is there an aspect of Maker Faire that your organization can really get into? If you had a dozen or more teachers from across the country or world, what would you want them to take away from the experience? What is it that you think students want from their learning experiences? As you have worked with your teenaged peers on technology projects, you certainly have noticed some valuable traits and obstacles. What are they and how can teachers work with the best opportunities and avoid the worst problems?
Chris
Ed Baafi - Boston Fab Lab, Learn 2 Teach/Teach 2 Learn, Modkit
Hi Chris:
Dale Dougherty asked if I thought any fab lab would be present at Maker Faire.. I told him I'd forward your email because I wasn't sure how much fab stuff you wanted to do.. If you need any subset of the fab equipment, let me know as I can point you in the right place to secure those from the vendors.. I'll likely be attending the Faire but in a different capacity (modkit/arduino workshops) so I wouldn't be able to commit much time to setting stuff up on site..
I just checked out the responses on your wiki.. To be fair (no pun intended), you have to remember that we stayed so late that we had to be kicked off the faire grounds each night and then we went out exploring the city (or partying as you called it).. But we did drop Geoff off at the hotel each night so it's not like we took anybody hostage or anything ;) But that's the fab lab trip moto: "work hard - play hard" or maybe it should be: "fab hard - play fab".. Maybe we'll have to get you to the India conference this year so you can be properly initiated.. But I have to warn you, we don't sleep :)
Response to above:
Ed, Alec, Dale:
As far as me doing a formal Fab Lab thing, I kind of doubt it. That was a lot of work. It might be fun, though to have some of the equipment available for use or even workshops. It was a huge amount of work setting up the lab. Fun, but work. If there are other people who want to be in on doing Fab-ish things, I would be happy to contribute.
Maybe Alec and NUBlabs could host some tools and we could have a workshop there or something like that. Shopbot has pledged a machine for educational work. It could be that several tools will be available at various booths, and we could have some education outreach from a number of places.
Certainly, this would be a good way to find out who is going to the Faire for educational purposes and project/classroom management ideas. I would like to find a way to set up a network of educators who can support and inspire each other.
Having a summit style meetup like last year is attractive, though I would not want to have it be so much of a sitting around the table thing as before. Coming up with some ideas on how to get people out into the circle and seeing what each other had for information and experinences and needs would be fun. How to activate a room full of teachers and educators and students is a good quest.
Dale, Do you have any opinions on what you would like to see? Which ways would be productive for us to think towards?
Thanks
Chris
Lee Pulis - Museum of Science Boston
Hi Chris,
I don't have a great idea for a Maker Faire project, but would be happy to help explore any of several attention-grabbing topics (grant proposals) such as 3-D printing ($40K machines), animated architectural modeling like we see in the rotating skyscraper of Dubai, or how to jazz up the data feed display from the proposed five different kinds of wind turbines to be installed on the museum roof. Thanks for the photos and blogs... they convey a good sense of what the Faire is about. -Lee
Lee Pulis, Curriculum Developer
Alec Resnick - NUB Labs, Fab Lab
Hey Chris,
NUBlabs is going to Maker Faire; we'd be happy to have you, if you're interested.
-a.
--
alec resnick
http://aresnick.mit.edu/
E Field - Duxbury High School
Hola,
Interesting stuff...I have to look more closely at it.
Can't say that any extra is possible right now. I'm looking at another grad class and teaching b&a dark, and having a few visitors to my casa in the next few weeks.
Head spinning.
But its all good.
- Ms. Field
Bill Young - Shopbot
Bill Young - Shopbot
Hey Chris,
This sounds cool and is something ShopBot is definitely interested in. We can make sure everyone gets fed at least...we'll be camping in the parking lot again and having cookouts and such...but we'll also be having our annual Jamboree on the Thursday and Friday leading up to the Maker Faire and maybe there's some way we can include you guys under that umbrella.
How about giving me a call when you get some free time and we can talk it over a little. My cell number is # and it's ALWAYS on!
Take care,
Bill
In response to message below from Bill Young - Shopbot
Bill
Excellent. I have a student from our summer program up for participating from home, but unavailable because of school and sports. As far as planning for the proposal, we may do it through wiki, email or facebook if everybody is on there.
Being able to tie in to Shopbot is definitely a plus. The burgers were good last year. One thing I did not like about the way I did last year's event was that I was committed to one location, I want to be able to float a lot more this year. I really enjoyed the workshops we did, and would like to get more making time this year. I will have to make a justification for why I am not in school, and presenting at the Faire will help a lot. Helping to create a network of educators will be important.
Hey Chris,
Some quick thoughts after a night of "digesting"
*) It looks like we may be bringing an extra smaller BT32 "Buddy" down
that's been presold and will be picked up on Sunday...we may be able
to let you guys borrow it during the Faire. I'll know for sure in a
couple of days.
*) You might think about posting something on the ShopBot forum about
the concept...there are lots of teachers that have ShopBots that could
definitely use some help and inspiration. I'll be glad to do it if
that would be easier.
*) We talked about having some sort of "educators summit"...do you
want me to see if I can finagle up a spot for it? We'll be using the
room that the show-and-tell was in from Wed through Friday, but I can
see if there will be any free time or other locations. Maybe have it
on Sat or Sunday as an "official" Make event?
I'll keep you updated as I find out stuff.
Bill
To Bill Young in response to message listed below:
Buddy
This sounds like a nice idea. Basically, we could have an educators' access machine? Nice touch. That would really be reaching out to the teachers. I am really into documentation, as it helps bring the Facts of how to use tools and ideas to people so they can have the least amount of Frustration learning to create and the most amount of Fun working with interesting ideas. Maybe we can aim to make sure that people can use the tools, ask questions, hear demos of what and how they can be used, and maybe create some video footage of the discussions so they can be posted online. Personally, I like the short 3-7 minute video that has a conversational tone. It uploads to youtube well, and people don't feel so intimidated as by the 30-60 minute video.
Forum
At this point, I am not active on the Shopbot forum, and wouldn't know where to put it. If you could roll with that and point me to where it is, then we can both keep up with what the action is on the forum.
Educators' Summit
This sounds great. I want to leave room for other ideas, so I don't want it to be completely a Shopbot only event. There is so much you can do with the shopbot, but I think a lot of people have a hard time getting it going. How to overcome the barriers to using complex tools and ideas would be an good theme to work around. Creating a community of teachers/learners is another theme I have been working with. In these projects, it is important that the teacher be supported in his or her role as a learner. Some people around the education system (students, parents, administrators) don't like it when the teacher is less than a total expert.
Thanks for all your interest and help!
Chris
Hey Chris,
I'm going to forward your original email to Brett Dickerson, who's a
ShopBotting teacher and is active in getting other teachers organized.
Hopefully he'll be interested in helping get the ShopBot end organized
Bill
Danny Shekhtman - Boston Fab Lab
I would love to attend Maker Faire and help out in any way possible but I'm not sure I have valuable things to add and I definitely would not be able to afford my own accommodations. I'll have to wait for the alleged Boston Maker Faire I guess.
In response:
You have done some very interesting and useful things with the laser cutter. You may have some good things to add to the discussion. At some point we will have enough action to start a real dialog. The talk may happen on email, wiki, facebook or... Shopbot is in on the planning, they have agreed to help us by providing a tool, food at their barbecue, and a meeting space if we want to hold a seminar. We could camp on site, travel is an expense.
Last year it took me about $500 in cash to go and be there. I flew and slept under the Fab Lab umbrella, so housing was free. There was more partying than I was interested in, and this year I would want to have a time that is more focused on the Faire and less focused on bars.
It was very good to spend a bunch of time with Ed, Alec and Geoff last year. I enjoyed traveling and hanging out with them. We set up a lab, made it work, showed people how to use it. That was good, but a lot of work. I want to see the whole Faire, but also have a real, productive reason for being present.
So basically, you could help plan an educational event, you could go and participate or you could help in some other way.
Happy to have you interested.
Chris
Susan Klimczak - South End Technology Center
won't get you to austin, but maybe you and your students can do something locally -
http://sites.target.com/site/en/corporate/page.jsp?contentId=PRD03-002537
Tien D - Learn 2 Teach, Teach 2 Learn
I can give you ideas via online or email however I can't be physically
there because of school and soccer. Is that okay?
In response:
Fine with me. Happy to have you aboard! We may do this through email, or we may set up a wiki, facebook page or something like that. There may even be a physical meeting, but probably not until actual planning time. That would be in late September.
Thanks
Chris
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